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Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


33  WIST  MAIN  STRUT 

WIISTIR.N.Y.  14SI0 

(7T«)  •72-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiquas 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibliographiquas 


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Tha  instituta  has  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
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Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
Planches  et/ou  illustrations  an  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Ralii  avac  d'autras  documents 


Tight  binding  may  causa  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

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II  se  peut  que  certainas  pages  blanches  ajoutias 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  la  taxta, 
mais,  lorsqua  ceia  itait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  4tt6  film^as. 

Additional  comments:/ 
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une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  una 
modification  dans  la  mtthoda  normala  de  filmage 
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Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ditachies 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualiti  inigale  da  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materii 
Comprend  du  material  supplimantaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


I      I  Pages  damaged/ 

I      I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

Pyj  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I      I  Pages  detached/ 

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I      I  Includes  supplementary  material/ 

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obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  tha  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

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possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  pre  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  imprea- 
sion,  or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copiea  ara  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illuatratad  imprea- 
sion,  and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impreaaion. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  «^- (meaning  "CON- 
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L'exemplaira  film*  f ut  reproduit  grflce  A  la 
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Lakehead  University 
Thunder  Bay 

Las  images  suivantas  ont  M  reproduitas  avec  le 
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de  la  nattet*  da  I'e^implaire  film*,  at  an 
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filmaga. 

Lee  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couvarture  en 
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d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  eri  terminant  par 
la  darnlAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboies  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
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symboie  V  signifie  "FIN". 


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right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
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'■'^' '  ''■■,)' " 


'A 


THEODORE  ^PARKER 


A  series  of  letters 


-o- 


BY 


ALBERT  WALKLEY 


f   1 1 


^:Z/^^^  /^^ 


-o- 


:v     \i    \ 


4! 


Neponset  Press,  Boston 


1900 


I 


w 


'^^Jk-: 


100012 


" 


TO 

THE  BELOVED  P^RIENDS, 

WITH  US  AND  PASSED  ON, 
OF 

The  Unitarian  Church, 
Keene,  N.  H. 

A.  W. 


('oprrifflit,  1!>00,  bj  Albert  Wftlklej  and  (J.  K.  F.ittlrneM. 

All  ritrhts  reserved. 


■\<i 


HHI8  little  book  is  sent  forth  in  the  hope 
that  it  may  be  a  stimuluH  to  farther  8tud\' 
of  the  life  and  eharacter  of  the  prophet  of 
Ood  sent  to  our  land  in  the  middle  of  the  eenturv 
now  closing. 

The  letters,  though  children  of  the  imagination, 
deal  with  the  facts  in  the  life  of  Theodore  Parker. 
It  is  a  life  full  of  inspimtion  to  eoumge  and  to 
high  ideas  of  God  and  man. 

The  **  Lives"  of  Parker  are  Weiss'  "  Life  and 
Correspondence  of  Theodore  Parker;''  "  The  Life 
of  Theodore  Parker^''  by  O.  B.  Frothingham ; 
"Theodore*  Parker's  Life  and  Writings^"  by 
Albert  Reville,  D.  D. :  "  The  Story  of  Theodore 
Parker ^"^  by  Miss  Frances  E.  Cooke ;  and  latent 
''*' Theodore  Parker."  by  John  W.  Chad  wick. 

Albeht  Walklev. 


^Tovember  1,  1900. 


Theodore  ^afket. 


FIRST   LETTER. 


Boston,  May  25,  1841. 
Dear  Hester. 

I  am  glad  you  are  pleased  with 
your  new  home.  But  of  course  Chicago 
with  its  6000  people,  as  you  informed  me 
in  your  last  letter,  is  not  Boston.  I  wonder 
if  it  will  ever  be  as  large  as  our  city.  Of 
course  you  think  it  will  :  there  is  nothing 
like  faith  in  one's  own  town. 

And  then  it  must  be  a  comfort  to  you 
that  already  there  is  a  flourishing  Unitarian 
church  in  your  city  which  you  can  attend. 
We  all  remember  what  a  staunch  church- 
goer you  always  were. 

You  say  that  there  is  some  difference  of 
thought   in    religious   matters   between  the 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


East  and  the  West ;  that  the  western  people 
are  more  advanced  in  their  religious  beliefs. 

Perhaps  so.  But  if  you  were  here  just 
now  you  would  find  some  who  are  "ad- 
vanced" enough  as  you  call  it. 

For  the  past  four  years  a  young  man  has 
been  pastor  of  the  Unitarian  church  in  West 
Roxbury.  He  is  said  to  be  a  great  reader, 
and  especially  of  the  works  of  the  Germans, 
whose  theological  ideas  are  not  suited  to  our 
staid  New  England  churches.  We  of  the 
laity  have  not  heard  much  about  him — if 
indeed  anything.  But  it  is  common  report 
that  he  has  been  for  some  time  a  thorn  in  the 
flesh  of  our  Unitarian  ministers.  Drs.  Robbins 
and  Gannett  are  much  exercised  over  the 
young  man  —  though  both  of  them  try  to  be 
just  and  kind  to  him.  I  forgot  that  I  had  not 
given  his  name.  Theodore  Parker  is  the 
name  he  bears.  Really  if  I  were  superstitious 
I  would  say  there  was  something  in  that 
name  to  inspire  its  owner  to  strive  for  great- 
ness. Think  of  it,  Hester;  Theodore,  the 
gift  of  God.    I  wonder  if  he  will  prove  such 


i 


»' 


FIRST    LETTER.  J 

to  mankind  I     He  is  now  thirty  years  of  age 
and  ripe,  they  say,  for  that  age. 

But  I  can  speak  now  from  personal 
knowledge  and  not  only  from  "  they  says." 
Last  Wednesday,  the  19th  inst,  Mr.  Parker 
preached  the  sermon  at  the  ordination  of  a 
Mr.  Shackford  who  was  called  as  minister 
to  the  South  Boston  church.  You  remem- 
ber the  church;  not  one  of  great  importance. 
But  it  is  now  prominent  enough  in  the  news- 
papers and  in  the  street  talk  even.  The 
sermon  has  set  all  tongues  awagging  and 
our  Unitarian  Zion  is  shaken  as  never  before. 
Indeed,  it  is  quite  a  pleasant  sensation  to  see 
our  church  of  the  most  blessedly  contented 
and  self-satisfied  saints  agitated.  Now  don't 
be  offended.  I  know  how  loyal  you  are  to 
our  faith  and  its  saints ;  but  you  must  ac- 
knowledge that  we  are  the  most  complacent 
and  unconsciously  egotistical  band  of  pil- 
grims that  ever  set  out  for  the  happy  land. 
Brother  O.  B.  agrees  with  me  in  this. 

But  there  is  a  tempest  on  hand  now,  and 
it  is  no  tempest  in  a  teapot.     It  has  the  gen- 


8 


THEODORE     PARKER. 


uine   ocean    roar    to    it.     I    say  again,  the 
sensation  is  positively  blessed. 

You  wish  to  know  what  stirred  our  still 
waters,  our  placid  depths.  It  was  Mr.  Par- 
ker's sermon.  He  took  as  his  subject,  "  The 
Transient  and  Permanent  in  Christianity." 
Is  not  this  a  daring  title  ;  for  all  of  us  were 
supposed  to  believe  that  all  in  Christianity 
was  permanent !  But  here  comes  this  young 
man  from  the  village  of  West  Roxbur}-  to 
beat  down  our  firm  walls  behind  which  we 
have  sheltered  for  ages.  Our  ministers, 
some  of  them  at  least,  say  that  our  Unitarian 
work  is  to  show  that  the  doctrines  of  the 
Trinity,  Deity  of  Jesus,  Vicarious  Atone- 
ment, Total  Depravity,  and  such  like  are  not 
supported  by  the  Bible  —  that's  enough. 
If  the  Bible  does  not  teach  a  doctrine  we 
are  not  to  accept  it.  But  Mr.  Parker  lays 
the  axe  at  the  very  root  of  the  tree.  He 
objects  to  being  bound  by  the  Bible.  He 
will  not  have  Paul  or  John  or  Luke  fetter 
his  powers  and  rights  of  thought.  He  does 
not  seem  to  think  that  Paul  was  a  Unitarian 


)i 


FIRST     LETTER. 


or  John  either.  And  he  says  we  have  no 
right  to  twist  their  words  to  suit  our 
doctrines.  All  this  and  more  in  the  face 
of  hundreds  of  sermons  and  tracts  which 
try  to  show  that  every  Apostle  was  a 
staunch  Unitarian  like  the  great  Dr. 
Channing. 

But  if  it  were  possible  to  go  further  Mr. 
Parker  did  that  very  thing.  He  said  that 
there  was  to  be  no  mediator,  nothing  be- 
tween us  and  the  Father  of  all.  I  almost 
tremble  as  I  write  the  words. 

Do  you  wonder  our  ministers  and  people 
are  stirred  !  The  common  feeling  is  that 
whatever  Unitarianism  may  be  —  and  there 
is  some  doubt  on  that  head  —  one  thinsf  is 
sure,"  it  is  not  what  Mr.  Parker  is  preaching. 

But,  my  dear,  I  will  send  you  the  sermon. 
It  is  being  printed  by  the  Swedenborgian 
press  ;  our  papers  and  publishers  will  not 
touch  it.  And  yet  the  day  may  come  when 
we  shall  see  that  Mr.  Parker  is  right  when 
he  asks  us  to  let  ^o  the  transient  and  la\' 
hold  on  the  permanent  and  spiritual  in   the 


lO 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


Bible  and  in  Jesus.  If  I  am  judge  at  all 
I  would  say  that  the  permanent  in  the 
Christ  has  laid  its  hand  on  this  young  man. 
This  whole  agitation  reminds  me  of  the 
stir  made  by  Mr.  Emerson's  address  before 
the  students  of  the  Divinity  school  in  '38. 
Parker  seems  to  be  under  the  influence  of 
Mr.  Emerson.  They  both  seem  to  be 
striving  for  the  real  and  the  divine  in  things. 
Well,  I  must  say  that  I  like  the  earnestness, 
the  sincerity  I  saw  and  felt  in  Mr.  Parker. 
More   later. 

Your  loving  sister 

Dorothy. 


SECOND  LETTER. 


II 


SECOND   LETTER. 


Boston,  Dec.  lo,  1841. 
Dear  Hester, 

You  asked  me  to  let  you  know  more 
about  Mr.  Parker.  You  say  you  are  interested. 

I  may  say  that  all  Boston  is  in  the  same 
condition.  After  his  sermon  in  the  South 
Boston  church  and  the  excitement  which 
followed,  Mr.  Parker  began  a  course  of  five 
lectures  on  "  Matters  Pertaining  to  Religion." 
These  lectures  have  been  fully  reported  in 
the  newspapers  of  our  city.  Indeed  one  paper 
in  New  York  reported  them  —  the  Tribune. 

If  there  is  anything  clear  in  our  religious 
situation  it  is  that  Mr.  Parker  sees  no  need 
of  miracles  to  give  support  to  the  spiritual 
md  self-evidencing  truths  of  Jesus.  He  does 
not  make  Bible  sayings  superior  to  the  voice 
of  conscience  and  reason  in  our  day. 


12 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


j  I 


I  remember  reading  somewhere  that  Pro- 
fessor Ware  of  the  Divinity  School  said  that 
if  there  was  a  contradiction  between  human 
reason  and  the  Bible  "we  must  follow  the 
written  word."  Now  this  is  just  what  Mr. 
Parker  refuses  to  do,  although  he  says  he  has 
the  profoundest  love  for  the  Bible,  as  indeed 
he  seems  to  have. 

What  disturbs  some  of  our  good  people  is 
that  Mr.  Parker  denies  the  miraculous  char- 
acter of  Christianity.  Our  older  ministers, 
and  some  of  the  younger  ones  too,  say  that 
the  difference  between  Unitarianism  and 
Trinitarianism  is  a  difference  in  Christianity, 
while  the  difference  between  Unitarianism 
and  Mr.  Parker  is  one  between  Christianity 
and  no  Christianity.  Now,  Hester,  is  not 
this  strange  that  we  Unitarians  who  are  not 
yet  out  of  our  shell  and  are  by  others  deemed 
infidels  and  heretics  are  setting  up  a  kind  of 
orthodox  heresy  or  heretical  orthodoxy  ?  The 
Examiner  puts  its  seal  on  the  whole  thing 
and  says,  "Mr.  Parker  is  not  a  Christian 
believer." 


SECOND  LETTER. 


13 


As  might  be  expected  the  city  pulpits  are 
mostly  closed  against  him.  He  has  few,  if 
any  exchanges.  Word  goes  round  that  "this 
young  man  must  be  silenced."  But  I  think 
there  is  going  to  be  great  difficulty  in  silen- 
cing him.  He  does  not  seem  to  be  made  of 
such  stuff  as  to  be  cowed  by  dignitaries  and 
high  sounding  words. 

When  I  tell  you  that  Mr.  Parker  is  of  the 
old  revolutionary  stock  you  will  not  wonder 
at  the  courage  of  the  man.  His  grandfather, 
John  Parker,  was  a  captain  of  a  company  at 
the  battle  of  Lexington.  He  is  reported  to 
have  said  that  if  the  English  meant  to  have  a 
war  Lexington  was  a  good  place  to  begin  it. 
It  was  in  this  same  Lexington  that  Theodore 
was  born,  on  the  Parker's  farm,  on  the  24th 
of  August,  1 810,  and  was  the  baby  in  a  fam- 
ily of  eleven  children.  August  is  a  notable 
month  in  the  life  of  this  young  man,  for  it 
was  in  this  month  that  he  passed  his  exami- 
nation for  entrance  to  Harvard  College — a 
day  and  an  event  he  never  forgot,  but  which 
he  always  speaks  of  with  thanksgiving.     At 


H 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


least  SO  a  friend  of  Mr.  Parker's  told  Henry. 

These  Parkers,  like  their  neighbors,  I  am 
told,  were  not  rich,  but  plain,  substantial  folk. 
What  education  the  young  man  got  was  ob- 
tained by  hard  work  of  hand  and  brain.  It  is 
said  he  taught  school  in  several  places  when 
only  a  boy,  under  twenty.  I  have  a  faint 
recollection  of  hearing  of  him,  through  some 
Newton  friends,  as  teaching  a  private  school 
in  Watertown. 

Of  course  a  man  of  Mr.  Parker's  mind — 
thirsting  for  the  best  —  went  to  Harvard,  or 
rather  studied  outside  and  took  his  examina- 
tions and  passed.  But  as  he  paid  no  tuition 
fees  he  did  not  receive  his  degree  with  his 
class.  However,  Harvard  repaired  this  in- 
justice last  year  by  conferring  on  him  the 
degree  of  A.  M.  There  were  some  who 
thought  it  was  putting  the  laurel  crown  on  the 
brow  of  error.  Henry  says  that  "  titles  are 
after  all  mantles  of  charity  which  cover  up  a 
great  deal  of  ignorance."     He  may  be  right. 

Neither  did  Mr.  Parker  finish  his  course 
at  the  Divinity   School ;  for  he  was  there 


SECOND   LETTER. 


15 


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10 
le 
e 
a 
^t. 

>e 
•e 


only  two  years  and  three  months.  My  im- 
pression of  the  man  is  that  he  cares  little  for 
titles  —  he  aims  at  the  real  thing. 

If  it  is  not  possible  to  silence  Mr.  Parker, 
it  will  be  possible  to  keep  him  out  of  a  city 
pulpit,  where  he  might,  it  is  claimed,  do  con- 
siderable harm.  No  really  respectable  city 
church  is  at  all  likely  to  call  him.  And  as  we 
have  Unitarian  churches  enough  in  Boston 
it  is  not  probable  that  a  new  one  could  be 
started  for  Mr.  Parker's  special  benefit. 

But  there  is  one  ray  of  hope  in  the  eccles- 
iastical heavens  —  that  is  our  particular  part 
of  said  heavens  —  and  it  is  this  :  it  is  whis- 
pered that  Mr.  Parker  contemplates  going  to 
Europe  for  travel,  rest  and  study  —  if  you 
can  combine  these  three  into  one — a  trinity. 
The  wise  ones  say  that  if  he  goes  he  will  be 
toned  down,  he  will  be  a  safer  man  ;  and  you 
know,  if  there  is  anything  our  churches  call 
for  it  is  safe  men,  men  who  are  expected  to 
do  no  harm,  even  if  they  do  no  good. 

Affectionately,  Dorothy. 


i6 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


THIRD   LETTER. 


Boston,  Jan.  23,  1845. 
Dear  Hester, 

Yesterday  I  heard  Mr.  Parker,  who 
exchanged  with  Rev.  James  Freeman  Clarke. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  imagine  men  more 
unlike  than  these  two ;  Parker,  vehement 
and  at  times  bitter,  Clarke  quiet  and  always 
fair  to  his  opponents. 

Masonic  Hall — where  Mr.  Clarke's  church 
holds  its  services — was  filled  ;  though  it  was 
thought,  where  two  such  prominent  mem- 
bers as  Benjamin  H.  Green  and  John  A. 
Andrew  opposed  the  exchange,  that  the 
attendance  would  be  small.  But  Boston 
evidently  wants  to  hear  what  this  new  man 
has  to  say.  The  sermon  was  a  good  one 
and  not  over  radical ;  the  theme  being  "The 
Excellence  of  Goodness."     Mr.  Parker  evi- 


THIRD    LETTER. 


17 


dently  does  not  think  that  sin  is  the  supreme 
power  in  God's  world.  He  puts  God's  good- 
ness first  and  foremost. 

There  is  serious  talk  of  some  of  Mr. 
Clarke's  people  withdrawing  and  founding 
a  new  church  with  Rev.  R.  C.  Waterson  as 
minister.  If  such  an  organization  is  formed 
it  might  be  called  "The  Church  of  Holy 
Repose." 

But  this  is  not  the  only  disturbance  of 
late  of  which  Mr.  Parker  and  his  preaching 
are  the  storm  center. 

Last  November  the  Rev.  John  Turner 
Sargent,  minister  of  the  Suffolk  Street 
Chapel,  exchanged  with  Mr.  Parker.  If 
Mr.  Sargent  were  minister  of  a  church  sup- 
porting itself  nothing  perhaps  would  have 
come  of  the  matter.  But  this  Suffolk  Street 
Chapel  belongs  to  the  Benevolent  Fraternity 
of  Churches,  and  in  a  measure  represents 
official  Unitarianism.  Mr.  Sargent  has  given 
liberally  to  this  church  ;  he  is  beloved  of 
the  poor,  his  character  is  spotless  —  he  is  all 
a  man  of  God  and  a  minister  of  Christ  can 


'•■■al 


i8 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


be  with  human  limitations.  But  he  has  been 
compelled  to  resign.  He  is  not  sound  theo- 
logically—  and  the  sign  of  his  unsoundness 
is  that  he  dare  exchange  with  Mr.  Parker. 

How  do  such  things  strike  you  ?  Don't 
you  think  that  we  too  have  theological  tests  ? 
Do  you  think  a  church  will  ever  get  to  the 
foundation  Jesus  gave  :  "  Love  to  God  and 
love  to  man"  ? 

It  is  wonderful  what  excitement  there  is 
about  Parker.  It  was  hoped  that  when  he 
went  to  Europe  in  '43  that  he  would  return 
with  more  conservative  ways  and  doctrines. 
But  the  contrary  is  the  fact.  He  is  more 
positive,  if  such  a  thing  be  possible  ;  he  is 
more  determined  to  say  what  he  feels  God 
would  have  him  say. 

His  year  in  Europe  seems  to  have  con- 
firmed him  in  the  belief  that  the  church 
wandered  early  from  the  simplicity  of  Jesus. 
He  feels  that  the  spoiling  of  the  life  and 
words  and  works  of  Jesus  began  not  in  the 
3rd  century  or  the  4th  ;  but  with  the  very 
writers  of   the   New   Testament.     All  this 


THIRD    LETTER. 


19 


troubles  our  ministers.  When  therefore  the 
Thursday  lecture  came  round  for  last  year 
the  ministers  did  their  best  to  have  no  lecture 
or  to  have  somebody  besides  Mr.  Parker 
preach  it.  But  there  was  no  way  to  get  round 
it ;  Mr.  Parker  took  his  turn  and  preached. 

Tt  was  just  two  days  after  Christmas  ; 
after  we  had  sung,  "  Peace  on  earth  and 
good  will  toward  men"  that  we  had  "the 
great  and  Thursday  lecture." 

You  and  I  have  gone  often  enough  and 
found  plenty  of  room  in  old  First  Church  ; 
Chauncy  Place  was  not  black  with  people 
wending  their  way  thither.  How  good  we 
thought  we  were  to  give  our  time  to  the 
service  !  How  we  looked  round  to  find  a 
man  in  the  audience  and  looked  in  vain. 

But  what  a  change  when  it  was  an- 
nounced that  Mr.  Parker  was  to  deliver 
the  lecture  !  Henry  determined  to  go  ;  he 
is  becoming  a  Parker  enthusiast.  The 
church  was  filled  before  we  got  there,  and 
it  was  with  great  difficulty  we  got  a  seat  at 
all.    Men  were  in  abundance,  and  there  was 


".m 


20 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


a  thrill  of  excitement  when  the  daring  words 
came  pouring  forth  from  the  bold  speaker. 
His  text  was,  "  Have  any  of  the  rulers,  or 
of  the  Pharisees,  believed  on  him  ?  "  You 
don't  get  much  idea  of  the  subject  from  the 
text ;  the  subject  being,  **The  Relation  of 
Jesus  to  His  Age  and  the  Ages."  It  was  a 
clear  setting  forth  of  the  human  nature  of 
Jesus.  There  were  no  half  way  measures  in 
the  lecture.  The  preacher  went  so  far  as  to 
say  that  he  did  not  know  that  Jesus  did  not 
teach  some  errors  along  with,  his  mighty 
truths.  He  said,  "  I  care  not  if  he  did.  It  is 
by  his  truths  that  I  know  him."  My  poor  pen, 
dear  Hester,  cannot  give  3'ou  any  idea  of 
the  commotion  that  is  going  on  in  our  midst. 
Henry  says  that  the  ministers  think  of  ex- 
pelling Mr.  Parker  from  their  "Association"  ; 
but  how  they  don't  know.  At  any  rate  it 
is  likely  that  the  great  and  Thursday  lec- 
ture's days  have  ended.  For  to  have  such 
teachings  promulgated  under  a  certain  show 
of  authority  from  our  Unitarian  churches  is 
too    much.     And    if   Mr.  Parker  won't   go 


THIRD     LETTER. 


21 


the  lecture  must  go.  Mr.  Parker's  head 
can't  be  cut  off,  so  the  lecture  will  have  to 
be   cut   off   head   and   all. 

There  is  talk  current  that  a  movement 
is  on  foot  to  get  Mr.  Parker  to  come  to 
Boston  perhaps  permanently. 

Affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


u 


Iff 


:JI 


!  .i 


22 


THEODORE    PARKER 


FOURTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  June  ist,  1845. 
Dear  Hester, 

This  Thursday  has  been  a  rare 
June  day.  Our  New  England  is  glad,  as  it 
were,  in  the  Lord  and  his  light  and  air  and 
love.  The  prayer  last  Sunday  was  filled 
with  the  holy  spirit  of  Nature.  Mr.  Parker's 
face,  as  he  prayed,  seemed  lighted  with  the 
glory  of  God  and  of  the  month  of  June. 

In  my  last  letter  I  told  you  that  there  was 
a  movement  on  foot  to  try  and  get  Mr. 
Parker  to  preach  every  Sunday  in  Boston. 
That  very  thing  has  been  done.  And  I  am 
glad  of  it.  I  am  as  an  enthusiastic  a  Parker- 
ite  as  Henry.  There  was  a  meeting  of  a 
few  of  our  male  friends  —  brother  Henrv 
was  one  of  them  —  held,  I  am  told,  on  the 
22nd   of   January.     After  some  preliminary 


FOURTH  LETTER. 


23 


talk  this  resolution  was  offered  and  carried  : 
*' Resolved,  that  the  Rev.  Theodore  Parker 
shall  have  a  chance  to  be  heard  in  Boston." 
Not  many  words  in  that  resolution.  I  can 
almost  believe  that  Henry  himself  wrote  it  ; 
for  it  seems  to  have  in  it  some  of  his  spirit. 
He  says,  ''We'll  see  whether  the  ministers 
will  silence  Mr.  Parker — or  crush  him,  or 
keep  him  out  of  Boston."  Henry  has  some 
of  old  Adam  in  him — or  some  near  relative 
of  Adam.  He  says  Boston  has  many  relig- 
ions, but  that  he  looks  to  Mr.  Parker  to  help 
it  be  religious.  The  younger  men  and  the 
progressive  sort  are  for  Mr.  Parker. 

Of  course  there  was  no  church  to  be  had. 
But  Mr.  Parker  is  not  an  ecclesiastic  ;  any 
place  where  men  and  women  assemble  to 
cultivate  love  to  God  and  love  to  man  is 
to  him  a  temple  of  God,  and  the  people  a 
Christian  church.  Old  Melodeon  Hall  on 
Washington  Street  between  West  and  Boyl- 
ston  streets  was  the  best  place  to  be  found. 
And  it  is  there  we  hold  our  meetings. 

Oh  that  I  had  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer  to 


H 


to 


tr 


24 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


tell  of  the  first  service.  It  was  Sunday 
morning  February  16.  We  hoped  for  a  fine 
Sunday,  for  we  thought  much  would  depend 
on  how  we  started  out.  I  might  say  that  we 
prayed  for  a  fair  Sunday.  But  how  our 
hearts  sunk  within  us  when  on  Saturday 
afternoon  the  skies  began  to  darken.  Then 
on  Sunday  we  woke  to  find  it  a  dark  day, 
cold  to  the  very  bone,  snow  filling  the  streets 
ready  to  melt.  And  the  hall  was  and  is 
anything  but  church-like.  The  floors,  walls 
and  platform  all  tell  of  the  different  theatri- 
cal performances  held  during  the  week. 
Truly  in  that  hall  we  have  felt  cold  winter's 
chill  and  are  likely  to  be  burned  by  the 
summer's  heat.  And  what  an  audience  —  a 
motley  crowd.  "  What  new  gods  hath  this 
man  ?  "  seemed  to  sit  on  the  faces  of  many. 
Some  came  who  perhaps  would  not  enter  a 
church,  some  to  hear  an  iconoclast  rave, 
some  to  mock  at  all  religion.  But  some 
there  were  in  deepest  earnest  who  believed 
that  the  outcome  of  the  utmost  freedom  in 
religion  could  not  be  other  than  the  highest. 


FOURTH  LETTER. 


25 


If  you  had  looked  round  you  might  have 
seen  some  reading  their  papers  while  Mr. 
Parker  was  either  reading  the  Bible  or  pray- 
ing. But  the  sermon  was  no  word  of  an 
iconoclast.  Far  from  it.  It  was  about  man's 
need  of  religion.  He  needed  it,  and  must 
be  religious  if  he  sought  his  highest  welfare, 
either  as  an  individual  or  a  member  of  society. 

I  should  be  glad  to  tell  you  about  Mr. 
Parkers  theology  if  I  could.  Yes,  Mr.  Par- 
ker has  a  theology,  a  deep  one  too.  He 
does  not  say  away  with  God  and  Jesus  and 
immortality  and  duty  and  religion  and  the 
Bible.  From  his  lips  the  word  God 
comes  with  meaning  and  with  power.  He 
makes  you  feel  God  as  the  One  all  perfect 
in  power,  in  wisdom  and  love.  I  go  away 
from  his  sermons  feeling  how  real  and  how 
good  God  is.  His  theology  is  a  theism  all 
aglow  with  life  and  love. 

This  God  made  man  the  best  possible 
under  all  conditions  so  that  man's  body, 
mind,  conscience,  heart  and  soul  are  adequate 
to   the    purposes   God   meant  for  them  all. 


;!i 


I 


r 


26 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


i  I 


Mr.  Parker  makes  us  to  feel  the  sacred  and 
holy  majesty  of  our  human  nature.  And 
out  of  this  human  nature  religion  came  — 
the  rising  of  the  finite  spirit  to  meet  the 
Infinite  Spirit.  And  of  course  we  feel  that 
we  owe  to  such  a  God  all  homage,  and  for 
love  of  him  try  to  fulfil  our  every  duty. 
"  Father  and  Mother "  he  sometimes  calls 
God  in  his  effort  to  get  some  word  to  help 
us  see  a  little  into  the  infinite  depths  of 
God's  love. 

This  is  enough  of  Mr.  Parker's  theology 
at  this  time.  I  only  know  that  if  it  is  infidel- 
ity, then  God  send  it  in  copious  showers 
upon  all  thirsty  souls. 

Mr.  Parker  is  yet  a  young  man,  being  in 
his  thirty-fifth  year.  But  he  has  about  him 
the  ways  of  an  older  man.  lie  is  not  at  all 
heroic-like,  or  impressive.  In  fact  I  think  I 
might  say  he  is  rather  stalky  in  his  appear- 
ance. His  head  is  almost  bald.  He  wears 
glasses.  His  forehead  is  high,  his  voice  not 
at  all  melodious.  No,  the  man  wins  because 
of  his  sincerity  and  the  depth  of  his  convic- 


FOURTH  LETTER. 


27 


tions.      He  believes,  therefore    he    speaks. 

The  hall  is  fast  filling  up,  and  if  it  can  be 
done  the  committee  is  going  to  see  if  the 
people  will  not  ask  Mr.  Parker  to  give  his 
whole  time  to  the  work  in  Boston.  At  pres- 
ent he  lives  in  Roxbury  and  is  still  pastor  of 
the  Roxbury  society  by  whom  he  is  loved 
and  who  in  turn  are  loved  by  him. 

You  must  not  blame  me,  dear  Hester,  for 
my  enthusiasm.  But  the  sense  of  freedom 
from  the  half-way  sermons  of  our  Unitarian 
ministers  is  a  baptism  from  on  high. 

I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  Mr.  Parker  has 

asked  the  Unitarian  ministers  to  define  their 

position  on  miracles,  inspiration,  revelation, 

salvation,  Jesus  and  such  like.  Silence  reigns. 

Yours  affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


f 


28 


THEODORE     PARKER. 


FIFTH   LETTER. 


Boston,  January  5,  1846. 
Dear  Hester, 

A  happy  new  year  to  you  on  this 
first  Monday  of  the  year — a  fresh  blessing 
from  the  Father  from  whom  cometh  every 
good  and  perfect  gift.  Yesterday  Mr.  Parker 
said  that  it  was  the  genius  of  eternity  which 
led  us  to  the  gates  of  time  and  gave  us  one 
more  year. 

And  what  a  day  was  yesterday  in  the  lives 
of  all  of  us  who  worship  in  Melodeon  Hall  I 
For  some  time  it  has  been  the  purpose  of 
our  people  to  organize  themselves  into  a 
religious  society.  This  we  have  done  ac- 
cording to  law,  and  with  the  name,  "  The 
Twenty-eighth  Congregational  Church  in 
Boston."  And  of  course  Mr.  Parker  was 
called  as  our  minister.     The  Standing  Com- 


FIFTH    LETTER. 


29 


mittee  sent  him  a  letter  November  28  of  last 
year,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  he  accepted 
our  call. 

Yesterday,  the  first  Sunday  of  the  year, 
Mr.  Parker  was  installed.  You  ought  to 
have  been  present.  The  service  was  the 
simplest  imaginable.  As  Mr.  Healey,  the 
chairman  said,  "  it  was  without  the  aid  of 
bishop,  church,  or  minister."  The  minister's 
own  conscience  was  to  give  "the  charge  ;" 
and  as  for  the  "  right  hand  of  fellowship " 
there  were  plenty  of  us  to  give  that  and 
warm  hearts  with  it.  These  are  about  the 
chairman's  words.  After  we  all  said  "yes" 
to  the  action  of  the  Committee  a  hymn  was 
sung ;  then  Mr.  Parker  himself  preached 
the  sermon.  He  chose  no  text,  but  took  as 
his  subject  "  The  true  idea  of  a  Christian 
Church."  And  what  an  idea  !  The  preacher 
would  have  the  church  make  us  sons  of  man 
and  of  God  as  was  Jesus,  would  have  it  the 
home  of  the  soul,  the  school  for  the  deepest, 
freest,  holiest  teaching,  the  inspiration  to 
self-sacrificing  work  for  man.     Mr.  Parker 


*,. 


1 


if 


^o 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


asks  a  great  deal  of  poor  human  nature  I 
But  this  much  he  does  do,  he  makes  you  feel 
God's  power  near  to  help.  He  does  make 
you  rejoice  in  God.  He  says  that  the  objec- 
tion to  much  of  our  Unitarian  preaching  is 
that  it  does  not  make  the  soul  rejoice,  shout 
for  joy  in  its  communion  with  God. 

There  is  no  need  telling  you,  dear  Hester, 
that  Mr.  Parker  is  one  of  those  transcenden- 
talists  written  against  and  spoken  against  !by 
the  men  of  the  old  school  of  thought.  Most 
of  our  Unitarian  ministers  are  humble  fol- 
lowers of  the  great  John  Locke,  whose 
"  Essay  on  the  Human  Understanding "  we 
poured  over  in  days  gone  by.  And  to  Locke 
the  only  way  we  can  know  God,  or  have 
faith  in  immortality  is  through  a  divine  rev- 
elation (the  Bible),  and  we  can  only  accept 
this  divine  revelation  if  it  is  properly  attested 
by  miracles,  outward  signs  and  visible  acts 
of  power.  Today  Professor  Norton  stoutly 
maintains  this  doctrine.  To  these  men,  Mr. 
Parker  says,  God  seems  a  probabilit}^  and 
immortality   a   mere    possibility.      Now   to 


FIFTH    LETTER. 


31 


himself  God  and  immortality  are  the  greatest 
realities  of  the  universe.  God's  witness  is 
in  man's  soul.  God  lives  in  man,  and  breathes 
into  him  the  consciousness  and  joy  of  im- 
mortal life.  This  school  of  thought  is 
growing.  Its  poet  is  Coleridge,  its  Elijah  is 
Thomas  Carlyle,  whose  writings  are  laying 
hold  upon  our  younger  thinkers.  And  one 
of  our  own  Unitarian  ministers  in  England, 
James  Martineau  has  left  Locke  and  Priest- 
ley and  Pale}'  for  the  new  light.  As  might 
be  expected  James  Freeman  Clarke  in  his 
own  quiet  way  preaches  transcendentalism 
to  his  people.  The  air  is  full  of  Emerson, 
whose  whole  thinking  is  of  this  spirit.  Like 
a  star  he  ascends  into  the  heavens  in  the 
winter  nights  and  hangs  over  our  city,  draw- 
ing the  eyes  and  hearts  of  our  thinking 
young  people  to  look  up  to  heaven  in  faith 
for  light  and  to  move  forward  along  new 
paths  and  toward  new  and  high  hopes.  This 
is  about  the  way  Mr.  Parker  puts  it.  But  few 
are  drawing  eyes  and  hearts  any  more  to 
themselves  than  is  Mr.  Parker. 


;i  IM 


ill 


32 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


Not  his  words  alone,  but  the  whole  man 
takes  you  close  to  the  deepest  realities  in 
man  and  the  world  about.  He  revels  in  his 
preaching.  It  is  not  a  task,  but  his  soul's 
delight  to  proclaim  to  his  fellows  the  un- 
searchable riches  of  the  soul  of  man. 

You  don't  understand  him  if  you  think 
him  an  iconoclast  —  or  a  mere  sensationalist, 
or  one  preaching  because  it  is  his  profession. 
He  is  called  of  God,  he  has  a  message. 

And  I  remember  in  one  of  your  letters 
you  spoke  of  Mr.  Parker  as  one  who  lowers 
Jesus,  because  he  did  not  call  him  God,  or 
say  he  was  divine.  I  never  could  understand 
what  was  meant  by  those  terms  —  or  how 
any  sane  person  could  say  them  as  part  of 
his  inner  soul's  creed.  But  I  can  understand 
what  Mr.  Parker  said  in  his  sermon  yester- 
day :  "  Christianity  is  humanity  ;  Christ  is  the 
son  of  man  ;  the  manliest  of  men  ;  humane 
as  a  woman  ;  pious  and  hopeful  as  a  prayer ; 
but  brave  as  man's  most  daring  thought.  He 
has  led  the  world  in  morals  and  religion  for 
eighteen  hundred  years,  only  because  he  was 


FIFTH    LETTER. 


33 


was 


the  manliest  man  in  it ;  the  humanest  and 
bravest  man  in  it,  and  hence  the  divinest." 
With  my  own  ears  I  heard  these  words.  My 
heart  leaped  for  joy  as  they  dropped  from 
the  lips  of  the  speaker,  my  reason  said  "Amen 
and  Amen."  I  understood  Jesus  ;  I  felt  vir- 
tue proceed  from  this  thought  of  him.  It 
never  entered  my  mind  that  there  was  any 
lowering  of  him.  But  I  did  feel  that  all  our 
human  nature  was  being  exalted.  No,  dear 
Hester,  Mr.  Parker  is  no  destroyer.  Never 
was  heart  more  loyal  to  the  great  Master, 
never  did  lips  and  tongue  speak  of  him  in 
truer  and  holier  fashion. 

Such  is  our  minister  and  the  truth  he  gives 
us.  And  I  hope  that  as  minister  and  people 
we  are  long  to  be  together.  The  old  hall  is 
full  and  more  are  sure  to  come.  This  plain 
old  congregational  installation  service  has 
made  a  deep  impression  on  my  mind,  so  far 
from  the  ecclesiastical,  and  so  near  to  the 
real. 

Affectionately  yours, 

Dorothy. 


<  J 


34 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


SIXTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  February  8,  1847. 
Dear  Hester, 

I  suppose  your  city  is  not  unlike  ours 
at  present,  with  all  the  signs  of  war  about  it. 
We,  in  this  part  of  the  country,  do  not  all 
approve  of  this  war  with  Mexico.  And 
among  those  who  are  most  outspoken  against 
it  is  our  minister,  Mr.  Parker.  He  says  of 
war  in  general  that  it  is  "  in  utter  violation 
of  Christianity.  If  war  is  right  then  Christ- 
ianity is  wrong,  false,  a  lie It  is  a 

violation  of  God's  eternal  law  of  love."  And 
in  particular  of  this  war  with  Mexico  he  says, 
"  It  is  a  war  waged  for  a  mean  and  infamous 
purpose,  for  the  extension  of  slaver3\"  Mr. 
Parker,  when  he  speaks,  calls  a  spade  a 
spade,  his  whole  soul  —  and  it  on  fire  —  goes 
into  his  words.     He  is  becom.ing  more  and 


SIXTH  li:tter. 


.^5 


of 


more  outspoken  against  slavery  and  I  should 
not  be  surprised  if  he  took  an  active  part  in 
favor  of  its  abolition. 

You  will  rejoice  with  us  in  the  good  for- 
tune that  has  come  to  us.  Mr.  Parker  has 
moved  to  Boston  from  West  Roxbury  and 
has  rented  a  house  No.  i  Exeter  Place,  be- 
tween Essex  and  Bedford  streets,  right  back 
of  Wendell  Philips,  who  lives  on  Essex  street. 

They  moved  in  January  ;  and  as  I  called 
last  Thursday,  you  will  see  that  I  was  one 
of  the  first  to  welcome  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Parker 
to  Boston.  You  perhaps  may  think  I  called 
too  soon,  but  my  excuse  is  that  Mrs.  Parker 
herself  asked  me  to  call.  Mrs.  Parker  was 
Miss  Lydia  D.  Cabot,  daughter  of  John 
Cabot  of  Newton,  with  whom  Mr.  Parker 
became  acquainted  while  he  was  teaching  in 
Watertov/n  in  '33.  She  was  a  teacher  in  Rev. 
Mr.  Francis'  Sunday  school  in  which  Mr. 
Parker  also  was  a  teacher.  They  were  mar- 
ried April  20,  '37.  She  is  a  gentle  woman, 
with  whom  her  husband  is  deeply  in  love. 
This  mild  creature  he  calls  "Bear,"  and  when 


f '  t 


H 


36 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


f  ! 


I 


I  visited  their  home,  I  found  that  Mr.  Parker 
had  his  study  adorned  with  images  of  bears. 
And  I  noticed  that  his  gold  shirt-stud  bore 
the  impress  of  this  same  animal. 

And  that  study ;  it  is  the  home  of  books. 
The  books  might  be  said  to  roam  whither 
they  pleased  in  it.  Books  in  plain  cases  lin- 
ing the  walls  ;  books  on  the  stands  ;  books 
on  the  desk  ;  books  piled  on  the  floor.  Some 
one  of  the  company  asked  Mr.  Parker  how 
he  found  time  to  read  so  many  books.  Pie 
smiling  replied  that  "  time  stretches  out  like 
India  rubber." 

Flowers  have  also  a  place  in  his  study  and 
they  receive  the  best  of  care  from  Mr.  Parker 
himself.  Few  love  flowers  with  a  deeper 
love,  or  know  them  with  a  truer  knowledge. 
I  am  told  that  his  love  for  wild  flowers  is  a 
passion,  and  that  every  year  he  goes  out 
to  Lexington  to  gather  the  earliest  violets 
from  his  mother's  grave.  You  will  not  there- 
fore wonder  that  on  Mr.  Parker's  pulpit, 
every  Sunday,  is  a  vnse  of  flowers.  I  know 
this  is  rather  odd  ;  for  the  churches  here  have 


SIXTH    LETTER. 


37 


not  yet  got   to  where  they  "consider  the 
lilies."     But  they  will  in  time. 

And  right  here  let  me  say  that  in  Mr.  Par- 
ker's study  is  a  Parian  head  of  Jesus,  and 
that  by  it  there  is  nearly  always  a  vase  of 
flowers.  He  associates  Jesus  and  the  flowers; 
he  is  in  love  with  the  beauty  of  both.  In 
this  homage  to  Jesus  he  illustrates  the  two 
lines  of  his  own  poem  : 

"  No  wreaths  nor  garlands  ever  did  entwine 
So  fair  a  temple  of  so  vast  a  soul." 

I  noticed  a  little  corn-crib  in  the  library 
and  was  informed  by  Mrs.  Parker  that  Mr. 
Parker  kept  his  corn  there  for  the  pigeons 
who  on  these  cold  winter  days  come  to  the 
library  window  for  their  breakfasts. 

But  neither  animals  nor  flowers,  large  as 
their  place  is,  have  as  large  a  place  in  Mr. 
Parker's  heart  as  have  human  beings.  The 
children  love  him  because  he  loves  them. 
He  says  that  each  child  comes  as  a  new 
Messiah  to  cheer  and  bless  the  world  of 
home.  And  he  mourns  deeply  that  he  has 
no   children  of    his    own.    More   than   one 


Hi 


>     M 


38 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


!'! 


Ill 


-il     ll 


■I:    ■' 


young  man  and  one  young  woman  owes  it 
to  Mr.  Parker  that  they  can  go  through  col- 
lege or  some  one  of  the  higher  schools.  If 
there  is  any  truth  to  the  saying  that  "  Inas- 
much as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of 
these,  ye  did  it  unto  me,"  then  great  is  Mr. 
Parker's  reward ;  for  it  does  seem  to  be  a 
passion  with  him  to  try  to  help  the  least. 
And  he  seems  to  have  just  the  voice  to  win  all 
such.  It  is  a  kindly  voice,  one  he  must  have 
caught  from  the  flowers.  You  would  hardl}' 
think  it  to  be  the  voice  that  cries  out  against 
wrong,  that  denounces  war,  and  is  beginning 
to  be  raised  in  behalf  of  the  slave.  I  do  not 
think  Mr.  Parker  really  wishes  to  hurt  an}- 
one's  feelings.  I  believe  that  it  pains  him  to 
be  compelled  to  so  earnestly  condemn  the 
theology  of  the  churches.  I  believe  he 
wo.uld  gladly  be  at  peace  with  the  ministers. 
But  duty  calls  him  to  speak,  and  he  must 
obey.  Perhaps  no  man  in  our  day  is  more 
the  slave  of  his  conscience  than  is  our  min- 
ister. We  are  coming  to  know  him.  Not 
his  theology  only,  not  his  eloquence,  but  his 


SIXTH    LETTER. 


39 


large  heart  is  winning  us.  We  think  we  see 
into  that  heart,  and  see  it  true  and  pure  and 
noble.  I  don't  believe,  dear  Hester,  that 
ever  man  had  more  loyal  or  loving  followers 
than  has  our  minister. 

Of  course  we  are  not  among  the  wealthy; 
you  know  that  yourself.  In  fact,  those  who 
rest  and  rust  on  their  respectability  and  their 
family's  ancient  history  or  their  present 
wealth,  mostly  let  us  alone.  It  is  said  of 
Mr.  Parker  by  these  that  he  does  not  belong 
to  the  best  society.  Of  course  this  means 
our  Boston's  best  society,  not  heaven's.  It 
is  possible  that  the  stone  which  the  builder's 
now  reject  may  become  the  chief  corner 
stone  in  our  Unitarian  temple  some  day. 
Stranger  things  have  happened. 

Affectionately  yours, 

Dorothy. 


m 


M 


m 


■m 


;  :i: 


\l 


i'   •!! 


I    4 
I 


40 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


SEVENTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  Sept.  25,  1850. 
Dear  Hester, 

How  one  loves  our  dear  Republic, 
with  all  its  faults,  when  one  goes  abroad  and 
returns  home.     Home,  sweet  home  ! 

My  long  stay  in  England  taught  me  many 
things. 

I  soon  learned  that  Unitarianism  there  had 
by  no  means  the  high  social  position  which 
it  has  here.  I  might  say  that  in  England  we 
are  humble  folk.  An  arrogant  and  in  some 
respects  I  might  say  an  ignorant  National 
Church  holds  by  its  social  prestige  many  who 
otherwise  would  stand  upon  their  feet  and 
let  God  speak  unto  them. 

But  I  was  consoled  by  one  fact,  and  that 
was  that  with  the  English  Unitarians  our 
minister  stands  high.    Among  his  staunch- 


.A 


4^' 


.// 


SEVENTH  LETTER. 


41 


est  admirers  is  Miss  Frances  Power  Cobbe, 
who  believes  that  Mr.  Parker  is  thoroughly 
consistent  in  his  doctrines.  She  holds  that  the 
use  of  reason  in  religion  and  in  the  interpre- 
tation of  the  Bible  leads  to  his  conclusions. 

But  I  cannot  say  I  was  proud  at  all  of  my 
country  and  State  when  I  read  Mr.  Webster's 
speeches  in  the  Senate  in  favor  of  compro- 
mising with  the  slave-holders.  The  English 
Unitarians  thought  that  we  of  Massachusetts 
should  demand  of  Mr.  Webster  that  he  stand 
with  the  anti-slavery  movement  and  by  the 
speeches  of  his  earlier  days. 

And  here  I  am  at  home  again  in  the  very 
midst  of  the  agitation  over  the  passage  of 
what  we  call  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law.  Last 
Sunday,  four  days  after  the  bill  became  a  law, 
Mr.  Parker  preached  against  it.  His  subject 
was  the  "  Place  of  Conscience  in  relation  to 
the  laws  of  men."  There  is  no  room  for 
doubt  as  to  where  our  minister  puts  himself. 
He  said  plainly  that  conscience  called  on  men 
to  obey  the  laws  of  God  rather  than  the  laws 
of  men.     "Nothing,"  he  said,  "in  the  world 


t'J 


\'i 


!'  it 


i,f,      i: 


ill  ^ 


i  i  I 


42 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


without  is  so  sacred  as  the  Eternal  Law  of 
God  ;  of  the  world  within  nothing  is  more 
venerable  than  our  own  conscience,  the  per- 
manent, everlasting  oracle  of  God."  We  al- 
most trembled,  as  did  Felix  when  Paul  was 
speaking,  when  Mr.  Parker  called  upon  men 
to  reverence  their  conscience  ;  to  be  "  not  the 
sense's  slaves,  but  the  soul's  free  men."  As 
to  what  Mr.  Parker  will  do  himself  in  the 
matter  of  helping  the  slave  to  freedom  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  He  plainly  said  he  defied 
the  law  :  "  I  am  not  a  man  who  loves  vio- 
lence. I  respect  the  sacredness  of  human 
life.  But  this  I  say,  solemnly,  that  I  will  do 
all  in  my  power  to  rescue  any  fugitive  slave 
from  the  hands  of  any  officer  who  attempts 
to  return  him  to  bondage.  I  will  resist  him 
as  gently  as  I  know  how,  but  with  such 
strength  as  I  can  command  ;  I  will  ring  the 
bells,  and  alarm  the  town  ;  I  will  serve  as 
head,  foot,  or  as  hand  to  any  body  of  serious 
men,  who  will  go  with  me,  with  no  weapons 
but  their  hands,  in  this  work.  I  will  do  it  as 
readily  as  I  would  lift  a  man  out  of  the  water, 


SEVENTH  LETTER. 


43 


as 
Iter, 


or  pluck  him  from  the  teeth  of  a  wolf,  or 
snatch  him  from  the  hands  of  a  murderer. 
What  is  a  fine  of  a  thousand  dollars,  and  jail- 
ing for  six  months,  to  the  liberty  of  a  man  ? 
My  money  perish  with  me,  if  it  stand  be- 
tween me  and  the  eternal  law  of  God."  On 
the  streets  to-day  we  hear  these  brave  words 
condemned.  The  righteous  over  much  are 
shocked.  The  too  good  are  ready  with  hands 
up  in  holy  horror.  The  money  interests 
would  like  to  stop  such  agitations.  The  cry 
is.  The  Constitution  must  be  upheld  at  any 
price,  the  Union  must  be  preserved  at  any 
cost.  Mr.  Parker  puts  God  first,  paper  laws 
after,  and  he  thinks  the  money  interests  have 
selfishness  enough  to  look  after  themselves. 
The  great  disappointment  to  Mr.  Parker  is 
the  conduct  of  our  senator,  M.  Webster. 
We  might  say  that  Mr.  Webster  is  a  soul  lost 
in  the  hell  of  unholy  ambition.  His  course 
in  Congress  Mr.  Parker  thinks  can  be  ex- 
plained in  no  other  way  than  by  saying  it  is 
a  bid  for  the  presidency.  And  certainly  it 
looks  that  wav. 


!'U;! 


Mil 


m 


>:.  % 


K.^' 


IMJ 


J.,,,, 


I 


I- 


Si  il 


44 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


Dear  Hester,  do  you  think  that  we  are  go- 
ing to  have  war  ?  Is  it  possible  that  we  of 
this  land  are  going  to  shed  each  other's 
blood  ?  And  what  a  war  it  will  be  I  Some- 
times when  I  hear  and  read  what  our  minis- 
ter says  I  feel  that  a  great  struggle  is 
coming.     God  grant  not ! 

Mr.  Parker  says,  "  One  day  the  motto  '  no 
more  slave  territory'  will  give  place  to  this, 
'  No  slavery  in  America.' "  There  is  some- 
thing terribly  uncompromising  about  our 
minister.  He  will  not  permit  the  slightest 
compromise  between  the  unrighteous  laws  of 
man  and  the  holy  laws  of  God.  Just  take 
these  words,  and  he  is  always  saying  some- 
thing like  them,  ''No,  slavery  cannot  be 
saved ;  by  no  compromise,  no  intervention, 
no  Mason's  bill  in  the  Senate.  It  cannot  be 
saved  in  this  age  of  the  world  until  yon  nul- 
lify eve^y  ordinance  of  nature,  until  you 
repeal  the  will  of  God,  and  dissolve  the  union 
he  has  made  between  righteousness  and  the 
welfare  of  a  people.  Then,  when  you  dis- 
place God  from  the  throne  of  the  world,  and 


SEVENTH  LETTER. 


45 


:  i 


instead  of  His  eternal  justice,  re-enact  the 
will  of  the  devil,  then  you  ma}'  keep  slav- 
ery ;  keep  it  forever,  keep  it  in  peace.  Not 
till  then." 

This  has  to  it  the  sound  of  an  old  prophet. 
One  almost  thinks  Elijah  has  come  back  to 
earth.  The  Ahab  of  slavery  says  that  these 
agitators  are  disturbers  of  the  peace  and  en- 
emies of  the  Union.  But  they  return  answer 
that  it  is  Ahab  himself  who  threatens  the 
nation  and  that  there  can  be  no  lasting 
peace  until  he  goes,  and  go  he  must. 

I  could  keep  on,  dear  Hester,  telling  you 
of  the  stormy  words  and  intense  feeling  in 
the  midst  of  which  we  dwell,  but  I  have 
wearied  you  enough.  If  things  keep  on  as 
they  are  now  I  fear  I  '11  have  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  to  write  about.  Our  hall  is  a  center 
to  all  this  agitation  ;  Mr.  Parker  is  one  of 
the  leading  spirits  ;  his  words  are  among 
the  weightiest.  And  yet  if  you  could  hear 
him  pray.  In  Mr.  Parker's  prayers  one  sees 
a  different  man  from  the  one  who  thunders 
against  sin   in  high  and  low  places.      His 


-'  i  'd 


46 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


prayers  are  like  the  morning  sunlight  before 
a  terrific  thunder  storm.  Pray  for  the  peace 
of  our  land,  dear  Hester. 

Yours  affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


nil!  I 


EIGHTH  LETTER. 


47 


EIGHTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  April  21,  1851. 
Dear  Hester, 

We  blush  for  our  beloved  city.  As 
no  doubt  you  have  read  in  the  papers,  Boston 
has  bowed  its  neck  to  the  yoke  of  the  slave 
owner.  At  last  we  have  sent  a  black  man 
back  to  the  lash  and  to  slavery.  We  have 
that  honor  now.  Daniel  Webster  did  it. 
He  must  be  proud  of  his  work. 

New  York,  Philadelphia  and  other  cities 
had  obeyed  this  fugitive  slave  law,  but  Bos- 
ton had  not.  Lexington  and  Concord  were 
too  close  to  us.  Old  Bunker  Hill  Mon- 
ument is  too  plainl}'  in  sight,  so  we  have 
tiiought  of  our  fathers  and  their  noble  deeds 
for  liberty  and  obeyed  the  law  of  God  rather 
than  man. 

Thomas  Sims  has  by  this  time  got  to  Sav- 


f  I 

i: 
i, 


m 


M 


,ii;'?' 


•M 


if  < 

ill 


7  ■'■  \i 

1!    !>; 


■>  t 


)l  1 1 


I   : 


48 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


annah,  and   his  back   is  bleeding.     He  will 
never  run  away  again. 

Twice  before  the  South  has  tried  to  take 
runaway  slaves  from  Boston,  but  failed. 
They  were  determined  to  succeed  this  time, 
and  they  did. 

They  tried  last  October  to  take  away  Wil- 
liam and  Ellen  Crafts  —  who  are  members 
of  our  congregation.  They  are  good  Christ- 
ians. Ellen  is  of  a  fairer  skin  than  Daniel 
Webster  himself.  William  is  a  carpenter, 
and  a  good  one  too.  They  are  not  the  only 
colored  people  in  our  church.  Mr.  Parker 
calls  these  people  "the  crown  of  his  apostle- 
ship,  the  seal  of  his  ministry."  He  was  deter- 
mined that  the  Crafts  should  never  go  back 
to  slavery.  More  than  that  he  married  them 
last  November,  and  told  William  that  it  was 
his  duty  to  defend  his  wife's  life  and  liberty 
at  all  hazards.  He  was  to  kill  any  one  who 
dared  molest  her  in  these.  William  is  the 
kind  of  a  man  who  would  do  it.  But  they 
are  safe.  The  Vigilence  Committee,  of 
which   Mr.  Parker  is  the  head,  got   them 


i    ; 


EIGHTH    LETTER. 


49 


away.  They  are  now  in  England.  They 
sing  "God  save  the  (^leen"  under  the  Union 
Jack.  Think  of  it  Old  England  stands  for 
freedom,  New  England  for  slavery  I 

Last  February  a  negro  named  Shadrack 
was  rescued  by  a  band  of  his  fellows.  The 
slave-hunters  wanted  him.  But  they  were 
disappointed.  He  too  is  in  freedom  under 
the  Union  Jack. 

It  was  reserved  for  the  month  of  April  — 
one  rich  in  noble  deeds  for  liberty — to  be 
the  time  in  which  Boston  was  to  bend  its 
proud  neck. 

When  the  fugitive  slave  law  passed  it 
caused  great  consternation  among  our  thou- 
sands of  colored  people.  But  we  thought 
that,  if  no  where  else,  at  least  with  us  it 
would  be  a  dead  letter.  Mr.  Parker  himself 
said  he  did  not  believe  it  could  be  enforced. 
But  he  now  sees  he  was  mistaken.  The  law 
is  wonderfully  alive.  The  ministers  even 
preach  in  favor  of  obeying  it.  And  one  of 
our  ministers  says  he  would  send  his  own 
mother  back  if  she  were  a  fugitive  slave,  so 


r 


l:i 


lil,' 


«  111 
I 


!i    ! 


i 


50 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


zealously  ought  we  to  obey  the  law  and  help 
preserve  the  Union.  Some  say  he  did  not 
say  his  mother,  but  his  brother.  It  makes  no 
difference  ;  it  is  blasphemy  either  way. 

Dr.  Dewey  of  New  York  and  Dr.  Gannett 
do  not  stand  out  as  great  helpers  to  noble 
and  daring  deeds  for  the  oppressed.  They 
have  Union  on  the  brain. 

This  Union  cry  is  a  stage  trick  of  the  pol- 
iticians, but  these  good  men  cannot  see  it. 

Last  Fast  Day,  Thursday  the  loth  of  this 
month,  Mr.  Parker  preached  a  sermon.  He 
said  that  generally  this  Fast  Da}^  was  in  the 
churches  a  farce  ;  but  that  now  there  is  need 
of  humiliation  and  prayer.  His  subject  was 
"  The  chief  sins  of  the  people."  Of  course 
slavery  and  this  taking  away  of  Sims  were 
the  substance  of  the  sermon.  He  told  how 
on  the  3rd  of  this  month  Sims  was  seized, 
how  he  was  dragged  before  the  Commis- 
sioner, how  he  was  condemned  as  a  slave 
without  a  jury,  how  the  court  house  was 
compassed  about  with  chains  to  keep  an  in- 
dignant  people  away,  how  the  militia  were 


EIGHTH    LETTER. 


51 


i 


called  out  to  guard  the  authorities.  Henry 
says  he  saw  them  at  sunrise  of  Fast  Day 
drilling,  so  as  to  use  their  arms  not  for  liberty, 
but  for  slavery.  The  Union  is  saved.  What 
a  Union  !  What  a  sight !  Oh  Massachusetts, 
deep  is  thy  shame  I 

Mr.  Parker  says  that  Saint  Hunker  is  now 
our  patron  saint.  He  is  about  right.  Some- 
times in  a  vision  I  see  Saint  Hunker  and 
Senator  Webster  arm  in  arm  leading  a  great 
procession  of  respectables  and  wealthy 
people,  church  members  and  ministers  all 
saying,  "Away  with  any  law  higher  than  the 
voice  of  Congress,"  or  "  The  Union  must  be 
preserved,"  marching  on  a  most  august  pro- 
cession—  marching  down  the  ages  to  well- 
earned  infamy.  The  god  of  slavery  will  say 
to  them  "  well  done  good  and  faithful  ser- 
vants." I  hope,  dear  Hester,  that  our  chil- 
dren's children,  when  great  questions  of  right 
come  up,  will  not  do  as  we  are  doing,  but 
will  choose  to  obey  God's  laws  rather  than 
the  statutes  of  men.  The  scourge  must 
come  !     This  cannot  go  on  !     Mr.  Parker  at 


lii 


:  \\ 


■  '■>  t 


ml 


rll 


,! 


52 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


the  close  of  his  Fast  Day  sermon  thus  put 
the  awful  truth  :  "  Bless  this  town  by  thy 
chastisement ;  this  State  by  thine  afflictions  ; 
this  nation  by  thy  rod."  It  looks  as  if  that 
prayer  was  to  be  answered.  How  does  it 
seem  to  you  ? 

Affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


: 


NINTH    LETTER. 


53 


NINTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  Nov.  3,  1852. 
Dear  Hester, 

Our  city  is  still  in  deep  sorrow.  The 
death  of  our  great  Senator,  Mr.  Webster, 
touches  all  >  ^arts.  We  feel  that  he  was 
really  killed  d  disappointment.  He  was 
great  enough  to  be  president,  certainly  infi- 
nitely greater  than  General  Scott  whom  the 
Whigs  nominated  and  failed  to  elect.  But 
all  his  efforts  to  please  the  Southern  Whigs 
were  of  no  avail.  They  would  not  trust  a 
Northern  man. 

Perhaps  never  had  a  man  so  many  eulo- 
gies pronounced  upon  him,  so  much  praise 
poured  into  his  grave  as  Mr.  Webster.  Mr. 
Parker  last  Sunday  spoke  out  his  full  mind 
in  regard  to  him.  It  was  certainly  one  of 
the  greatest  orations  ever  given  on  the  death 


IE 

J  I- 


U^ 


¥ 


'-  t:     \ 


\Mn 


m 


-.•I! 


■':  |i'' 


■I   ' 


I    )  !,; 


54 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


iji 


of  any  American.  It  rises  in  rebuke,  in  pathos, 
in  eloquence  and  power  above  his  oration 
on  John  Quincy  Adams.  It  was  the  words 
of  a  man  of  a  clear  conscience  summing  up 
the  life  of  a  man  who  was  limited  by  the 
hard  facts  of  life.  Mr.  Parker  sees  law  as 
living  in  the  bosom  of  God.  Mr.  Webster 
saw  it  as  embodied  in  the  written  decrees 
of  men.  The  speech  Mr.  Webster  made 
on  the  7th  of  March  1850,  according  to  Mr. 
Parker,  killed  him.  Last  Sunday  Mr.  Par- 
ker said  "Daniel  Webster  went  down  to 
Marshfield  —  to  die  !  He  died  of  his  7th  of 
March  speech  !"  That  speech  showed  that 
all  Webster's  heart  was  lost  in  the  written 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.  To  him 
nothing  was  above  it  or  beyond  it.  His  life 
did  not  lift  him  into  communion  with 
eternal  things.  The  life  of  our  minister  is 
wrapped  about  by  eternal  realities.  Above 
all  that  man  has  written,  in  law  and  religion 
rises  God's  growing  truth.  These  two  men 
could  not  see  eye  to  eye,  however  much, 
for  a  time,  they  might  walk  together. 


NINTH    LETTER. 


55 


m 


Oh,  but  you  ought  to  have  heard  Mr. 
Parker  I  The  Hall  seemed  transformed 
with  the  greatness  of  the  sermon. 

You  must  know  that  Mr.  Webster  was 
one  of  Mr.  Parker's  human  idols.  When 
he  was  a  boy  lo  years  old  he  heard  Webster 
at  Plymouth.  "  Never  shall  I  forget  how  his 
clarion  words  rang  in  my  boyish  heart.  I 
was  but  a  little  boy  when  he  spoke  those 
brave  words  in  behalf  of  Greece.  I  was 
helped  to  hate  slavery  by  the  lips  of  that 
great  intellect." 

Mr.  Webster's  picture  had  a  place  of 
honor  in  the  Parker  home.  Many  a  time  I 
have  seen  it  there.  It  is  not  to  be  seen  there 
any  more,  nor  has  it  been  since  the  7th  of 
March  speech  became  public.  It  is  said  that 
Mr.  Parker  himself  took  it  down,  kissed  it 
and  put  it  away.  And  I  can  easily  believe 
that  this  is  true. 

Last  Sunday  amid  all  the  words  of  con- 
demnation in  Mr.  Parker's  sermon  ran  the 
deepest  strain  of  sorrow.  The  preacher 
could    not  compromise   with  the   Senator's 


V  5*:: 


ii   i^'l 


;-  -ff 


l5.'i 


56 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


! 


turning  his  back  on  freedom.  Take  these 
words  :  "  Mr.  Webster  stamped  his  foot 
and  broke  through  into  the  hollow  of  athe- 
ism which  engulfs  the  State  and  church." 
We  almost  felt  judgment  was  come. 

But  I  say  there  was  sorrow  in  every  sen- 
tence. There  was  tenderness.  Few  were 
the  dry  eyes  in  that  audience  as  the  preacher 
went  on.  And  how  could  there  be  ?  Mr. 
Parker's  own  heart  was  almost  breaking. 
When  he  came  to  speak  of  his  honor  and 
love  for  Mr.  Webster  the  ver}'  walls  thrilled 
in  response. 

"  Did  men  honor  Daniel  Webster  ?  So 
did  I.  .  .  Did  men  love  him  ?  So  did  I. 
.  Do  men  now  mourn  for  him,  the 
great  man  eloquent  ?  I  put  on  sackcloth 
long  ago.  .  .  I  shall  not  cease  to  mourn. 
.  .  I  shall  go  mourning  all  my  days  ;  I 
shall  refuse  to  be  comforted  ;  and  at  last  I 
shall  la}^  down  my  gray  hairs  with  weeping 
and  sorrow  in  the  grave.  O  Webster ! 
Webster  !  would  God  that  I  had  di^^  ^  for 
thee  ! "     With    this    there    was    a    r  w.  eral 


I 


NINTH  LETTER. 


S7 


le 


I 


iral 


break  down  into  tears.     No,  these  two  men 


could  not  understand  each  other.  We  feel, 
though,  that  Mr.  Parker  is  on  the  side  that 
must  win.     He  is  nearer  tlv^  ^ource  of  all. 

Few  have  dared  to  speak  ol\  is  our  min- 
ister has  done  in  this  matter.  Almost  aa 
have  in  some  way  covered  up  Mr.  Webster's 
sin  ;  for  sin,  deep  and  strong,  it  was.  He 
has  laughed  to  scorn  the  truth  that  above  all 
our  statues  is  the  law  of  God  —  the  Higher 
Law  which  we  as  a  people  must  recognize. 
No  words  of  his  were  too  bitter  to  contemn 
those  who  plead  for  the  slave.  Abolitionists 
were  a  contemptible  crew. 

It  is  over  now,  and  m.ay  God  remember 
that  we  are  at  times  but  dust  and  ashes,  and 
then  remember  our  Senator's  sins  no  more 
forever. 

When  Mr.  Parker  speaks  on  the  lives  of 
men  or  their  acts,  he  speaks  as  justice  and 
love  must  speak.  The  acts  that  men  are 
going  to  be  ashamed  of,  will  be  preserved 
in  his  sermons  like  flies  in  precious  amber — 
and    long    will    they   be    there    preserved. 


\  I, 


f 


fm 


«' 


58 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


I 


There  will  their  descendents  see  them  as  a 
just  man  once  saw  them. 

Our  hall  is  too  small  for  our  congregation. 
Mr.  Parker  must  have  a  larger  platform 
from  which  to  speak.  Now  he  is  no  longer 
the  minister  of  the  Twenty-Eighth  Congre- 
gational Society  only,  nor  of  all  Boston  even. 
He  is  the  nation's  tribune.  His  many  lec- 
turing tours,  in  which  no  matter  what  may 
be  the  title  of  the  lecture,  he  speaks  for 
liberty,  have  made  him  and  his  words  a 
matter  of  national  concern.  The  Commit- 
tee has  determined  to  give  Mr.  Parker  the 
platform  he  deserves.  May  God  give  him 
strength  and  a  long  life.  These  are  times 
that  try  men's  souls.  What  is  the  end  to  be  ? 
Affectionately  yours, 

Dorothy. 


TENTH  LETTER. 


59 


TENTH  LETTER. 


V\-[ 


Boston,  March  28,  1853. 
Dear  Hester, 

Mr.  Parker  yesterday  gave  us  the 
last  sermon  of  a  series  on  "Woman."  There 
A^ere  four  sermons  in  the  series,  this  last  one 
of  which  is  to  be  printed ;  and  which  I  will 
send  you.  According  to  Mr.  Parker  woman 
is  "the  equivalent  of  man ;  superior  in  some 
things,  inferior  in  other  ;  .  .  entitled  to 
just  the  same  rights  as  man  ;  to  the  same 
rights  of  mind,  body  and  estate  ;  the  same 
domestic,  social,  ecclesiastical  and  political 
rights  as  man,  and  only  kept  from  the  enjoy- 
ment of  these  by  might,  not  right ;  yet  her- 
self destined  one  day  to  acquire  them  all." 
Is  not  this  last  a  bold  prophecy  ?  Do  you 
think  it  will  ever  be  fulfilled  ? 

In  the    sermon  I  am  to  send    vou   when 


^'  I 


Mil 


ii 


m 


"  'pit 


6o 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


printed,  you  will  see  that  our  minister  does 
not  undervalue  the  domestic  side  of  woman's 
life  ;  but  that  he  does  not  think  it  exhausts 
her  rights  or  powers.  "Woman's  function 
like  charity,"  he  said, "  begins  at  home  ;  then 
like  charity  goes  everywhere."  Could  there, 
dear  Hester,  be  a  higher  compliment  to  our 
sex  ?  Is  there  anywhere  a  sentence  that  so 
well  points  out  our  way  and  work  ?  But 
when  you  read  the  sermon  you  will  get  Mr. 
Parker's  thought  better  than  I  can  give  it. 
Let  me  know  what  you  think  of  his  idea 
that  woman  is  to  undo  much  of  man's  injus- 
tice, that  the  work  we  are  doing  in  literature 
is  more  just,  more  philanthropic,  more  relig- 
ious than  that  of  men.  I  know  that  some  of 
our  people  were  deeply  impressed  when  Mr. 
Parker  said  that  since  woman  is  a  human 
being  she  has  the  nature,  rights  and  duties 
of  a  human  being,  and  she  is  here  to  develop 
her  human  nature,  enjoy  her  human  rights, 
perform  her  human  duties.  And  he  added 
that  woman  was  to  do  this  for  herself  as 
man  had  done  it  for  himself. 


TENTH  LETTER. 


6i 


:  as 


In  my  enthusiasm  over  the  sermon  of  last 
Sunday  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  we  had  left 
Melodeon  Hall  and  gone  into  what  is  called 
Music  Hall.  This  hall  has  been  built  since 
you  left  us.  It  is  back  from  Winter  street 
and  may  be  entered  from  Tremont  street 
through  Bumstead  Place.  It  has  also  an  en- 
trance from  Winter  street  itself.  It  is  large 
and  airy.  It  has  two  galleries,  and  is  in  ev- 
ery way  the  place  for  Mr.  Parker.  But 
some  of  us  were  loathe  to  leave  old  Melo- 
deon. Its  clock  even,  as  Mr.  Parker  said, 
was  dear  to  us.  The  weather  stains  on  the 
walls  became  precious.  "  More  sacred,"  said 
our  minister,  "than  the  pictures  which  the 
genius  of  Angelo  painted  in  the  Sistine 
Chapel,  or  those  with  which  Raphael  adorned 
the  Vatican."  The  last  Sunday  we  wor- 
shipped there  was  on  November  14  of  last 
year,  and  we  came  into  Music  Hall  the  next 
Sunday.  For  eight  years  we  worshipped  in 
the  old  place.  They  have  been  great  years 
to  many  of  us,  years  of  uplift  into  highest 
things.     The  farewell  was  a  solemn  affair. 


.J! 


% 


hi 

■'f  i. 


ii 


§ 


62 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


" 


Mr.  Parker  took  occasion  to  go  over  the  his- 
tory of  the  eight  years  of  his  ministry  with 
us.  He  told  us  —  as  if  it  were  not  graven  on 
our  hearts  and  minds  —  what  his  work  and 
word  had  been.  Still  it  was  well  to  hear  it 
again.  God  —  the  very  word  as  well  as  the 
thought  —  has  taken  on  deep  reality  and  the 
nearness  of  a  friend.  Man  has  been  clothed 
in  dignity. 

God's  breathing  into  the  spirit  of  man,  so 
that  he  is  filled  with  largest  thoughts  and 
hopes,  has  come  to  be  to  us  the  source  of  all 
the  Bibles. 

Immortality  is  with  us  in  the  eternity  of 
life.  Mr.  Parker  said  he  preached  against 
false  ideas  of  God  and  man  ;  against  slavery 
which  he  always  hated  ;  against  intemper- 
ance ;  against  tyranny  in  every  form  and 
against  war. 

When  we  came  into  the  new  hall  he  spoke 
of  the  duties  of  the  minister.  What  burdens 
he  put  upon  himself  I  What  high  ideals  he 
set  before  himself  and  us  !  I  can  remember 
the  words  well  :  "The  minister  is  to  serve 


TENTH  LETTER. 


63 


SO 


of 

inst 

ery 

•er- 

and 

)oke 
lens 
Is  he 
iber 
;rve 


the  infinite  duties  of  man,  minister  to  his  in- 
finite rights."  The  closing  words  of  that 
sermon  went  deeper  than  perhaps  any  words 
Mr.  Parker  has  yet  spoken  —  at  least  deeper 
into  one  heart.  He  called  on  us  to  incarnate 
the  thought  of  God  in  our  nature,  in  men, 
families,  communities,  nations  and  the  world. 

When  Mr.  Parker  prays  he  makes  you 
feel  that,  difficult  as  this  work  is,  it  can  be 
done.  There  is  a  tenderness  to  his  prayers 
that  gives  to  the  whole  service  a  beauty,  a 
depth  and  a  sense  of  love  that  I  get  nowhere 
else.  When  he  prays  you  feel  he  is  speak- 
ing to  God  as  his  father,  with  all  the  love 
and  trust  of  a  child,  and  he  makes  you  feel 
that  you  are  just  as  much  God's  child  as  is 
the  one  praying. 

The  sunlight,  and  the  stormy  night,  the 
ebbing  and  flooding  ocean,  the  green  hiii- 
side,  the  lily's  cup,  all  flowers  —  the  alphabet 
of  God's  loving-kindness  —  the  clear  streams 
of  water,  the  bird's  song,  the  child's  beauty, 
the  heart's  longing,  its  sorrows  and  joys, 
man's  temptations  and  victories  ;  and  over  all 


64 


THEODORE  PARKER. 


God's  fatherly  and  motherl}^  tenderness — 
these  fill  his  pra3'ers.  Their  woof  are  man's 
hopes  and  needs  ;  their  warp  God's  tender- 
ness and  help.  His  prayers  are  the  rainbow 
of  the  service  ;  they  are  great  in  the  beauty 
of  light,  life  and  love.  They  fulfil  the  old 
word  :  "  Worship  the  Lord  in  the  beauty  of 
holiness."  This  is  a  Mr.  Parker  which  those 
who  only  read  his  denunciations  of  wrong 
do  not  get.  I  trust  that  some  da}^  these 
prayers  may  be  taken  down  and  preserved, 
that  all  may  see  deep  into  the  heart  of  this 
great  preacher  of  righteousness. 

Affectionately  yours, 

Dorothy. 


ELEVENTH    LETTER. 


65 


ELEVENTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  April  5th,  1855. 
Dear  Hester, 

Our  hearts  are  filled  with  gratitude  ; 
Mr.  Parker  was  on  Tuesday  the  3rd  inst.  set 
free.  The  judge  held  that  the  indictments 
were  in  bad  form.  The  whole  thing  turns 
out  a  farce,  though  it  seemed  tragedy  enough 
for  us  at  one  time. 

We  cannot  very  well  say 

"  My  country  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty, — 
Of  thee  I  sing :" 

when  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  is  arrested 
and  indicted  because  he  tried  to  keep  a  poor 
black  man  out  of  slavery.  Mr.  Parker  was 
arrested  last  November  ;  to  be  exact,  on  Fri- 
day the  29th  of  the  month.  That  was  truly 
a  black  Friday. 


f 


66 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


f 


11 


!'h    :i 


Ul 


The  whole  commotion  was  on  account  of 
the  part  Mr.  Parker  took  in  the  Burns'  trial. 
You  no  doubt  have  read  all  about  this  cele- 
brated case.  It  is  an  event  that  is  graven 
deep  upon  our  minds.  Official  Boston 
showed  itself  the  tool  of  the  slave  power. 
But  real  Boston  —  the  people  —  arose  in  its 
might  and  made  it  clear  that  the  blood  of 
our  fathers  still  runs  in  our  veins.  The  fugi- 
tive slave  law  is  too  iniquitous  to  be  enforced. 
As  Mr.  Parker  said,  it  is  Daniel  Webster's 
monument,  and  led  it  stand  as  his,  while  our 
other  great  men  are  without  their  monuments 
of  stone.  The  24th  of  May  of  last  year 
with  us  will  be  remembered.  It  was  on  the 
evening  of  that  day  that  our  city  was  dis- 
graced by  the  seizure  of  another  fugitive 
slave.  His  name  is  Anthony  Burns,  a  young 
negro  who  worked  for  Deacon  Pitts  in  his 
clothing  shop  on  Brattle  street.  What  a  stir 
we  had  next  day  when  it  was  known  what 
had  been  done.  At  once  the  people  were 
called  upon  to  assemble  at  Faneuil  Hall  on 
Friday  evening.  And  according  to  the  papers. 


ELEVENTH  LETTER. 


67 


and  Henry's  account,  it  was  an  immense 
gathering.  Some  weie  so  wrought  up  and 
indignant  that  they  went  to  the  Court  House 
to  rescue  the  prisoner,  an  undertaking  in 
which  they  did  not  succeed.  Soldiers  and 
marines  and  artillery  surrounded  the  Court 
House  and  guarded  the  streets.  We  were 
in  this  state  of  uproar  and  excitement  until 
the  2nd  of  June  when  Burns  was  put  on  a 
steamer  and  taken  out  and  put  on  board  a 
U.  S.  revenue  cutter.  I  cannot  describe  the 
procession  from  the  Court  House  to  T  wharf. 
It  went  from  the  Court  House  down  Court 
and  State  streets  to  the  wharf.  The  streets 
were  lined  with  soldiers  so  that  no  one  could 
enter  either  Court  or  State  streets  from  the 
other  streets. 

You  know  father  has  always  been  a  dem- 
ocrat. Henry  is  an  out  and  out  free-soiler. 
When  he  called  father's  attention  to  the  vol- 
unteer guards  which  the  Democrat  Bay  State 
Club  furnished  to  see  Burns  safely  conducted 
to  the  wharf  father  said  they  were  the  very 
dregs  of  Boston.    He  called  them  the  worst 


Ml 


>'■■ 


W 


W' 


)'v 


68 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


M 


m 

it 


I  m 


;ij|ji! 


gang  of  miscreants  it  had  ever  been  his  mis- 
fortune to  behold.  Mr.  Parker  on  Sunday 
June  the  4th,  two  days  after  the  rendering  up 
of  Burns,  spoke  of  this  guard  as  a  "leprous 
gang,"  raked  from  the  kennels  of  Boston, 
outcasts  from  gorged  jails,  men  whom  the 
charity  of  the  gallows  left  unhanged. 

The  truth  is  that  in  his  sermon  of  that  day 
he  used  his  scourge  most  terribly.  He  put 
some  of  our  prominent  citizens  on  the  bleed- 
ing backs  of  returned  fugitive  slaves  to  be 
carried  on  said  backs  down  in  sorrow  and 
contempt  to  posterity.  He  called  the  day  of 
Burns'  return  to  Virginia  bad  Friday,  not 
that  the  day  /as  at  all  gloomy.  On  the 
contrary  it  was  a  bright  day,  a  brilliant  one, 
without  a  cloud  in  the  sky. 

And  more  than  that  the  anniversary  meet- 
ings were  at  hand,  all  kinds  of  societies  were 
celebrating  anniversaries  of  one  kind  or 
another,  theological  societies,  philanthropic, 
reformatory  and  literary  societies,  Bible  and 
Sunday  school  societies,  free-soil  and  anti- 
slavery  conventions.     Amid  all  these  relig- 


ELEVENTH  LETTER. 


69 


inti- 


ioiis  doings  inhumanity  was  being  done  in 
the  name  of  the  law  of  a  Christian  land. 
Dear  Hester,  are  not  some  people  too  relig- 
ious to  be  good  ?  Have  not  most  of  our 
religious  societies  too  many  pots  and  kettles 
to  wash  for  them  to  give  time  to  suffering 
man  ?  Has  religion  anything  to  do  with 
humanity,  or  is  it  a  kind  of  spider's  web  with 
which  to  catch  fool  flies  ?  Even  Mayor 
Smith  was  religious  enough  to  be  at  a  Sun- 
day school  meeting  after  he  had  committed 
a  great  wrong  on  a  fellow  man.  But  it  is 
said  that  the  children  hissed  him.  Perhaps 
that  is  a  sign  that  our  children  will  not,  when 
they  are  men  and  women,  permit  slavery  in 
this  land  either  black  or  white.  Indeed  the 
resolution  passed  on  Friday  the  26th  of  May 
at  the  great  Faneuil  Hall  meeting  gives  us 
hope  in  that  direction.  Let  me  copy  it  for 
you.  "  Resolved,  that,  leaving  every  man  to 
determine  for  himself  the  mode  of  resistance, 
we  are  united  in  the  glorious  sentiment  of 
our  revolutionary  fathers — Resistance  to  ty- 
rants is  obedience  to  God." 


Ti 


','!■ 


•  n     ! 


iMr. 


70 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


That  has  an  old  Faneuil  Hall  flavor  to  it. 
It  tastes  good. 

It  was  because  Mr.  Parker  spoke  at  this 
meeting  along  with  Phillips  and  others,  and 
stirred  the  meeting  to  its  depths,  and  because 
he  was  most  active  in  the  whole  Burns  mat- 
ter in  opposition  to  the  authorities  that  he 
was  indicted  for  resisting  a  United  States 
officer  in  executing  a  writ.  He  was  already 
for  trial.  But  as  I  have  said,  he  is  free,  no 
case  was  made  against  him.  Henry  says 
that  when  he  saw  Mr.  Parker  in  the  Court 
House  last  Tuesday  he  was  writing  and  that 
he  showed  him  what  he  was  writing.  It  was 
the  preface  to  two  volumes  of  his  sermons 
and  speeches  against  slavery,  soon  to  be 
published.  He  let  Henry  copy  the  last  para- 
graph, and  I  will  now  send  a  copy  of  it  to  you. 

"  Perhaps  I  ought  also  to  say  that,  pressed 
with  other  duties,  I  write  this  Preface  in  the 
presence  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States,  before  which  I  am  now  arraigned  as 
a  Malefactor,  charged  with  a  "  Misdemeanor" 
committed  by  speaking,  in  Faneuil  Hall  and 


ELEVENTH    LETTER. 


71 


■I 

1'  '■  m 


elsewhere,  a  few  words  against  the  kidnap- 
ping of  my  fellow-citizens  of  Boston,  some 
of  them  also  my  parishioners  ;  and  that  the 
same  man  who  so  zealously  supported  the 
fugitive  slave  bill,  and  labored  by  its  instru- 
mentality to  enslave  men,  is  at  this  moment 
on  the  Bench  to  try  me  for  resisting  with  a 
word  the  officer  who  sought  to  reduce  a 
Boston  man  to  the  condition  of  a  Virginia 
slave." 

Henry  says   that   literary  men    can    take 
terrible  revenge  on  those  who  wrong  them. 
But  I  agree  with  Mr.  Parker  and  am  quite 
willing  that  Judge  Curtis  be  punished. 
Yours  affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


Htf) 


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72 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


TWELFTH   LETTER. 


Boston,  Nov.  29,  1855. 
Dear  Hester, 

I  am  glad  you  read  Mr.  Parker's 
''Defence."  I  should  have  sent  it  to  you 
sooner,  but  it  did  not  come  out  until  August 
—  that  is,  in  its  complete  form.  But  3'ou 
take  occasion  in  your  last  letter  to  give  us 
all  a  lecture  on  our  bitterness,  on  the  terrible 
way  in  which  all  of  us  Parkerites  —  as  you 
call  us  —  speak  of  what  we  believe  to  be  the 
errors  and  sins  of  others.  You  think  we 
ought  to  be  more  gentle  when  we  denounce 
the  errors  of  the  current  theology  or  when 
we  condemn  the  slave  catcher.  Perhaps 
we    ought. 

You  think  especially  that  Mr.  Parker  ought 
''to  tone  down  his  language."  "He  ought 
to  be  like  the  meek  and  gentle  Jesus "  you 


rn 


TWELFTH  LETTER. 


73 


say.  Who  told  you  Jesus  was  "  meek  and 
gentle  ?"  It  seems  to  me  that  he  was  tender 
to  the  very  people  society  despises,  and  ter- 
rible on  the  very  saints  society  upholds.  If 
people  must  have  gentleness  towards  sin  in 
high  places  and  towards  error  in  dominant 
creeds  then  they  will  have  to  say  "good  bye'' 
to  every  prophet  of  Israel  and  every  man  of 
God  who  has  moved  this  world  one  inch 
forward. 

You  see,  dear  Hester,  I  am  stirred  up  in 
my  defence  o?  our  minister.  I  hear  just  such 
complaints  as  yours  on  all  hands.  Men  who 
are  very  careful  about  the  feelings  of  the 
supersensitive  in  sin  do  not  care  a  rap  of 
their  finger  for  the  feelings  of  those  who  are 
trying  to  make  men  see  that  the  creeds  wrong 
God  and  that  the  slave-holder  wrongs  man. 

Once  a  great  teacher  said  "  out  of  the  full- 
ness of  the  heart  the  mouth  speaketh."  I 
suppose  this  means  that  when  one  feels  deep- 
ly one  speaks  out  with  strength.  I  will  go 
farther  and  say  that  I  know  that  Mr.  Parker 
is  one  of  the  most  tender  and  gentle  of  men. 


74 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


In   : 


I  remember  that  on  an  Easter  Sunday  he  took 
as  the  lesson  the  story  of  the  trial  and  cruci- 
fixion of  Jesus.  He  read  on  for  a  few  min- 
utes, when  his  voice  began  to  tremble,  and 
he  broke  down  in  tears.  For  a  short  time 
he  had  to  stop  the  reading.  And  it  was  only 
with  an  effort  he  finished  the  lesson. 

When  he  prays  the  tears  run  down  his 
cheeks  as  he  lifts  on  high  the  sorrows  and 
joys  of  his  people.  Oh,  how  often  I  have 
seen  the  hands  softly  folded  and  that  old- 
young  head  bowed  in  deepest  reverence,  and 
heard  the  voice  in  simplicity  and  earnestness 
raised  to  God. 

To  me  these  prayers,  and  even  the  strong- 
est words  of  denunciation  have  been  the 
bread  of  God.  It  is  because  our  minister 
loves  God,  feels  how  great  God's  love  is  that 
he  is  so  earnest  in  his  word  against  the  errors 
which  hide  that  glory.  He  sees  others  tak- 
ing their  ease  in  Zion  while  the  Majesty  and 
Beauty  and  Fatherhood  of  God  are  destroyed. 
He  knows  that  men  need  these  very  things, 
and  yet  are  refused  them.    I  think  he  would 


ii  i 


TWELFTH  LETTER. 


75 


sin  against  God,  man  and  his  own  conscience 
if  he  did  not  speak  in  tones  of  thunder.  They 
sin  who  speak  to-day  smooth  words  in  Zion. 

You  say  he  ought  to  be  more  tender  when 
he  speaks  of  the  officers  of  the  law,  whose 
duty  it  is  to  enforce  the  laws.  Why  ?  lias 
not  tyranny  always  hid  behind  that  very  plea  ? 
Mr.  Parker  believes  in  the  brotherhood  of 
man.  He  is  not  one  of  those  who  uses 
lightly  the  words  "I  believe."  The  whole 
heart  and  life  of  our  minister  is  in  what  he 
says  he  believes.  He  sees  mankind  wronged 
by  unholy  laws  ;  should  he  be  silent,  or  should 
he  speak  so  as  to  be  heard  and  understood  ? 
To  be  listened  to  in  this  land  one  needs  to 
cry  aloud.  Great  sins  demand  tierce  words. 
It  will  be  his  great  burning  awful  words  that 
will  be  remembered  when  most  all  other 
words  of  our  day  shall  be  forgotten.  They 
have  to  them  everlasting  lire.  They  are 
thunder  bolts  from   God. 

Oh  !  you  say  this  is  too  far.  Not  so,  dear 
Hester.  There  is  no  greater  priest  of  God 
in  our  land  than  Mr.  Parker.  I  wonder  what 


% 


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■■''! 


76 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


he  'd  say  if  he  knew  I  called  him  a  Priest ! 
I  mean  he  comes  really  between  the  souls 
and  hearts  of  men,  and  lifts  them  on  high  — 
up  to  God  if  you  will.  He  is  to-day  the 
greatest  mediator  between  God  and  man. 
His  continual  insistance  of  the  goodness  of 
God,  of  man's  childhood  to  God,  of  God's 
care  of  man,  and  man's  need  of  God  is  medi- 
ating to-day  between  God  and  our  age  as  no 
other  man's  sermons  are. 

All  this  makes  him  earnest  whether  he 
will  or  not. 

I  wish  you  would  read  carefully  his  ser- 
mons and  tell  me,  do  they  not  breathe  a  deep 
spirit  of  sympathy  with  nature  ?  Do  they 
not  come  nearer  the  6th  chapter  of  Matthew 
than  most  of  the  sermons  you  come  across  ? 

Or  read  one  of  the  prayers  I  sent  you, 
there  see  the  deep  heart  that  is  hurt  by  the 
wrongs  done  God  and  man.  And  when  you 
have  read  tell  me  how  such  a  heart  could 
speak  otherwise  than  as  Mr.  Parker  does  ! 

"  O  Father,  who  adornest  the  summer,  and 
cheerest   the  winter  with  thy  presence,  we 


TWELFTH  LETTER. 


77 


thank  thee  that  we  know  that  thou  art  our 
Father,  and  our  Mother,  that  thou  f oldest  in 
thine  arms  all  the  worlds,  which  thou  hast 
made,  and  warmest  with  thy  mother's  breath 
each  mote  that  people's  the  sun's  beams,  and 
blesses  every  wandering,  erring  child  of 
man."  These  words  reveal  him  in  his  tender 
depths.  The  wrath  of  the  gentle  is  the  most 
terrible  of  all  wrath. 

These  are  days  of  greatness  ;  they  are 
mighty  days.  They  call  for  men  of  might 
and  words  of  might.  And  instead  of  finding 
fault  with  our  minister  because  he  is  a  man 
of  God  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  of  right- 
eousness and  love,  we  clap  our  hands  most 
vigorously  when  he  comes  down  hardest  on 
the  crying  iniquity  of  our  land  and  day. 

Now  read  again  his  "  Defence."  Remem- 
ber he  was  on  trial  for  doing  what  he  could 
to  get  Burns  frcu  ;  remember  that  such  a 
thing  was  just  what  would  call  forth  all  the. 
moral  indignation  of  the  man. 

And  right  here  let  me  tell  you  what  hap- 
pened on  the  night  when  the  sympathizers 


1.^ ' 


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i 

S   1 


^ 


i'- : 


78 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


with  Burns  tried  to  break  into  the  Court 
House  ;  Mr.  Coburn  went  home  with  his 
clothes  all  torn  and  covered  with  inud. 
Think  of  it — quiet,  aged  and  thoroughly 
Christian  Mr.  Coburn.  He  did  not  tell  any 
one  at  the  time  how  it  happened.  Only  lately 
has  it  come  out  that  he  was  one  who  tried  to 
force  open  the  Court  House  door.  His  sons 
Clarence  and  Norton  are  Whigs  of  the  Web- 
ster kind  and  are  for  the  enforcing  of  the  fu- 
gitive slave  law.  Thus  are  we  to  be  divided. 
Is  it  then  a  time  for  timidity,  or  canting, 
or  slackness  in  the  work  of  the  Lord  r 

While  I  am  writing  some  of  our  people 
are  getting  ready  to  go  to  Kansas.  God  bless 
them  and  give  strength  to  their  right  arms. 
You  join  me  in  the  prayer  I  know. 

Affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


+    f] 


THIRTEENTH  LETTER. 


79 


THIRTEENTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  Nov.  7,  1856. 
Dear  Hester, 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  darkness 
and  disappointment.  We  had  hoped  against 
hope  that  Fremont  might  have  been  elected. 
But  we  are  to  have  Buchanan — a  kind  of 
nonentity.  Mr.  Parker  worked  with  his 
might  for  Fremont,  though  he  was  by  no 
means  his  first  choice. 

His  choice  was  (i)  Seward  ;  (2)  Chase  ; 
(3)  Hale.  But  now  he  thinks  the  trouble  is 
going  to  end  in  civil  war.  Oh  God  forbid  ! 
Yet  that  is  the  feeling  here.  Mr.  Parker  says 
that  he  is  so  thoroughly  convinced  war  is 
coming  that  he  is  not  buying  any  new  books. 
And  when  he  buys  no  books  there  is  trouble 
ahead.  For  he  has  been  known  to  purchase 
in  one  year  fifteen  hundred  dollars'  worth. 


m,: 


8o 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


He  says  that  he  now  needs  his  money  for 
cannons. 

If  it  must  come,  this  awful  war,  we  have 
faith  in  our  cause  and  our  Northern  people. 
Mr.  Parker  says  that  if  the  North  locks  horns 
with  the  South  he  knows  which  will  be 
crowded  into  the  ditch. 

Last  Monday  Sumner  came  home  and  the 
people  turned  out  to  welcome  him.  And 
among  the  most  enthusiastic  was  old  Josiah 
Quincy  who  met  him  at  the  Roxbury  line. 
The  people  here  are  sorry  for  any  word  they 
may  have  said  against  our  senator,  who  is 
the  bravest  of  the  brave  in  behalf  of  the 
slave.  The  blow  that  Preston  Brooks  gave 
Sumner,  wounding  his  dear  head,  fell  as  a 
thousand  blows  upon  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
As  Mr.  Parker  says  it  will  arouse  •all  New 
England.  It  was  felt  in  the  mills  and  farms 
and  shops.  Great  good  will  come  out  of 
this  wickedness.  The  sermon  which  he  gave 
us  after  the  outrage  on  "A  new  lesson  for 
the  Day"  went  down  to  the  very  depths  of 
the  hearts  of  our  people.  One  simile  is  worth 


THIRTEENTH  LETTER. 


8i 


treasuring.  Do  you  remember  that  he  said 
that  the  bludgeon  which  struck  "that  hand- 
some and  noble  head  "  (Sumner's)  was  from 
the  ^'  Acorn  in  whose  shell  Boston  carried 
back  Thomas  Sims  in  185 1."  What  a  mem- 
ory Mr.  Parker  has,  and  how  little  things  are 
used  to  great  purposes  by  him  I 

And  just  now  he  is  all  slavery.  No  mat- 
ter what  the  subject  of  the  sermon — whether 
about  "  Franklin "  or  the  "  Education  of 
Children,"  —  in  comes  a  word  about  Kansas 
and  slavery. 

Since  Sumner's  injury  we  perhaps  do  not 
hear  so  often  the  cry  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
bill  or  the  Missouri  Compromise.  There  is 
less  argument  and  more  open  and  silent  in- 
dignation. We  are  not  using  logic  now  in 
the  Kansas  matter,  and  have  not  been  for 
some  time.  Our  friends  and  some  kA  our 
own  congregation  are  out  there  to  build  up, 
to  suffer  and  to  fight.  They  will  see  what 
they  can  do  to  make  Kansas  a  free  State.  I 
shall  never  for«:et  the  times  we  have  u'one  to 
the  Providence  R.  R.  station  to  bid  good  bye 


n  \ 


I  ^'^^ 


tlii  4 


82 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


to  the  Kansas  pilgrims.  They  seemed  to  me 
to  be  like  new  Mayflower  pilgrims.  They 
went  with  our  prayers,  and  the  while  them- 
selves singing  hymns.  Some  of  the  hymns 
were  more  orthodox  than  I  cared  for. 

These  pilgrims  are  like  the  fathers  also  in 
that  they  took  their  Bibles  and  read  out  of 
them  the  Old  Testament  parts  which  call  on 
men  to  do  battle  for  the  Lord.  And  they 
took  with  them  the  means  with  which  to  do 
battle.  Mr.  Parker  calls  their  rifles  "  Sharp's 
Rights  of  the  people."  I  have  also  heard 
him  speak  of  these  rifles  as  "  indispensable 
missionaries  and  apostles  to  the  gentiles." 
So  you  see  we  are  in  earnest.  When  he 
preached  on  "  Franklin  "  in  September  last, 
instead  of  reading  a  lesson  from  the  Bible, 
he  read  a  letter  from  Rev.  Ephraim  Nute, 
our  minister  in  Lawrence,  Kansas.  Mr. 
Parker  called  it  a  "  new  Epistle  from  St. 
Ephraim."  You  see  therefore  that  we  have 
come  to  recognize  that  the  contest  in  Kansas 
is  no  longer  one  '^  of  ballots,  but  of  bullets." 
Even  our  legislature  is  moving.  The  prisons 


ft!    ii 


THIRTEENTH  LETTER. 


83 


es. 

he 
ast, 
Die, 
ute, 
Mr. 

St. 
lave 
nsas 
ets." 
sons 


of  Massachusetts  can  no  longer  be  used  to 
detain  escaped  slaves.  When  the  contest 
does  come  this  dear  old  State  will  be  to  the 
front.  I  am  getting  back  my  faith  in  our 
beloved  city  and  our  State.  Our  hearts  are 
warming  up. 

Have  you  ever  seen  John  Brown  ?  Pd  like 
to  get  a  glimpse  of  him.  He  has  been  in 
Boston.  But  when  he  comes,  he  does  it  so 
quietly  that  the  public  know  little  or  nothing 
of  his  coming  or  going.  But  this  much  I  do 
know  that  he  and  Mr.  Parker  are  heart  to 
heart  in  this  work,  and  that  Mr.  Parker  is 
furnishing  him  with  money  and  rifles.  Or 
perhaps  I  ought  to  say  that  our  ''Emigrant 
Aid  Society"  is  doing  it.  But  it  is  one  and 
the  same  thing. 

The  old  Calvinist  that  Brown  is  and  the 
free  believer  that  Mr.  Parker  is  does  not 
keep  them  apart  in  their  sympathies  for 
humanity.  They  seem  to  be  of  the  same 
stock.  But  does  not  this  show  that  our 
creeds  are  not  very  deep  after  all  —  whether 
Calvinistic  or  Unitarianistic  ? 


m 


\i.  11 


1 1 


84 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


Mr.  Parker  works  day  and  night.  He  is 
doing  the  work  of  half  a  dozen  men.  He  is 
burning  the  candle  at  both  ends.  He  has  the 
blower  up  at  the  fire-place  all  the  time.  The 
fuel  will  soon  be  gone.  He  is  only  in  his 
forty-seventh  year.  As  you  remember  Au- 
gust 24  is  his  birthday.  But  when  I  see  him 
in  the  pulpit,  oh  how  much  older  he  looks  ! 
His  hend  is  b.  Id  and  his  beard  white,  or  al- 
most so.  '^le  is  giving  his  life  to  his  work 
in  a  terriblci  ^cnse.  For  the  future  he  will 
have  to  give  up  much  of  his  lecturing.  The 
Watertown  work,  which  he  took  up  last 
spring,  will  soon  have  to  be  given  up.  Every 
Sunday  afternoon  he  drives  out  there  and 
preaches  the  same  sermon  which  he  gives 
us  in  the  morning.  And  what  is  he  paid  for 
it  ?  Nothing,  save  the  gratification  of  his 
iove  for  preaching  and  work. 

And  in  the  midst  of  all  this  work  he  comes 
to  our  homes  a  real  pastor.  His  words 
strengthen  us  in  temptation  ;  they  soothe  us  in 
sorrow.  They  are  balm  to  our  wounds.  The 
open  secret  is  that  he  brings  God  with  him. 


11  I 


3)! 


THIRTEENTH  LETTER. 


85 


I  dread  this  winter  for  him.  Last  winter 
and  spring  were  hard  enough  on  him.  He 
took  heavy  colds  on  his  lecturing  tours, 
which  told  too  plainly  what  the  end  is  to  be. 
We  hide  this  from  ourselves  as  much  as 
possible  ;  but  it  is  only  make-believe  after  all. 
Affectionately  yours, 

Dorothy. 


>\ 


f. 


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'I 

if 


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if 


86 


THEODORE  PARKER. 


FOURTEENTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  July  15,  1857. 
Dear  Hester, 

Last  Sunday,  not  the  unexpected, 
but  the  long  expected  happened.  Mr.  Parker 
must  rest  from  preaching.  I  believe  he  so 
likes  to  preach  that  he  would  keep  going  all 
summer  if  the  people  would  let  him.  I  re- 
member him  once  saying,  "  I  delight  in  writ- 
ing and  preaching.  No  poet  has  more  joy 
in  his  song  than  I  in  my  sermons."  Preach- 
ing to  him,  he  says,  is  a  good  medicine.  He 
is  helped,  he  claims,  when  he  can  look  into 
the  faces  of  the  people.  In  spite  of  ill  healtk, 
all  this  year  and  the  greater  part  of  last,  he 
has  kept  on  preaching,  when  he  ought  to  be 
in  his  bed.  He  is  so  in  love  with  speaking 
to  men  in  public  that  he  has  for  the  last  ten 
years  given  not  less  than  eighty  or  a  hundred 


FOURTEENTH  LETTER. 


87 


>      !tf 


lectures  each  year.  This  could  not  result  in 
anything  else  but  a  break  down.  His  lectur- 
ing tour  in  the  early  part  of  this  year  through 
the  State  of  New  York  broke  him  down 
completely.  He  came  home  exhausted  from 
the  trip  about  the  middle  of  February  and 
had  to  give  up  altogether  in  the  early  part 
of  March.  He  was  sick  with  typhoid  fever. 
It  was  feared  that  he  might  be  taken  down 
with  either  lung  or  brain  fever.  He  claims 
that,  though  he  was  near  death's  door,  he 
was  let  off  easy.  He  has  promised  to  give 
up  trying  to  lecture,  and  to  confine  himself 
to  the  pulpit  and  the  press.  Of  late  he  has 
been  preaching  when  he  could  hardly  stand, 
and  I  noticed  that  often  he  held  to  the  desk 
with  his  hands.  He  would  seldom  venture 
to    lift   both    hands  off   of    it  at  once. 

And  when  the  service  was  over  he  would 
have  to  be  assisted  to  put  on  his  coat,  and 
and  then  taken  home  in  a  carriage.  In  the 
hope  that  he  could  be  persuaded  to  take  a 
vacation  the  parish,  at  a  meeting  held  on 
Sunday  April  the  fifth,  voted  to  increase  his 


88 


THEODORE  PARKER. 


1;! 


,L.  ^  ,! 


salary  to  two  thousand  five  hundred  dollars 
a  year  and  to  grant  him  a  six  months  vaca- 
tion in  which  to  go  to  Europe.  But  no,  he 
would  not  listen  to  the  vacation  matter  ;  nor 
would  he  take  all  of  the  salary  offered  him. 
He  says  that  such  kindness  is  so  good  med- 
icine that  he  need  not  take  all  that  is 
prescribed. 

It  is  hoped  that  we  may  resume  services 
in  September,  but  all  depends  on  Mr.  Parker's 
health.  But  we  all  know  that  only  one  of 
his  brothers  and  sisters  is  living.  They  all 
died  before  they  reached  the  age  of  fifty. 
This  makes  his  chances  v^>ry  poor  indeed. 

But   work    he    must.     His  brain  and  pen 

-'re    always    going.     If  it  were  his  sermons 

i     e,  they  it  should  seem,  would  keep  his 

X  doing  its  utmost.  But  add  to  the  ser- 
mons, newspaper  and  magazine  articles,  and 
lectures,  and  letters.  It  does  seem  as  if  the 
people  from  all  over  the  country  thought 
Mr.  Parker  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  write 
letters.  Being  a  minister  he,  of  course,  has 
very  little  to  do,  he  has    so    much   time    he 


FOURTEENTH    LETTER. 


8y 


needs  some  one  to  help  him  use  it  up.  Now 
that  is  the  way  some  people  evidently  think, 
so  that  Mr.  Parker's  letter  writing  is  incessant. 
From  all  kinds  of  minds  he  receives  letters, 
and  answers  them  too.  Now  it  is  a  farmer 
who  has  read  one  of  his  sermons  or  possibly 
several  of  them,  who  asks  for  furthc  '^^ht. 
Or  it  is  a  lone  New  England  wom^.^i  out 
West  who  would  like  a  word  of  consolation. 
The  blacksmith  writes  to  thank  him  for  his 
noble,  daring  words.  Hale  (I  mean  Senator 
Hale  of  New  Hampshire),  and  Chase  and 
our  own  Sumner  are  among  his  constant 
correspondents.  The  scholars  in  Germany 
or  England  send  over  the  ocean  now  and 
then  a  letter  to  the  once  despised  preacher 
of  Boston. 

How  he  answers  all  of  them  I  cannot  see. 
And  no  doubt  they  are  as  full  of  wisdom 
and  strengthening  words  as  his  sermons  and 
prayers.     I  know  for  certain  that  some  of 

them  are,  for  S let  me  read  some  of  the 

letters  he  sent  to  her  when  she  was  abroad. 
How  playful  and  hopeful  they  are  in  spite 


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23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

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90 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


I    I 


of  the  undercurrent  of  sorrow  which  runs 
through  them.  In  spite  of  all  their  words 
they  reveal  the  fact  that  the  writer  feels  that 
he  is  not  the  strong  man  he  'd  like  to  be.    ' 

They  have  the  same  manly  tone  that  al- 
ways attaches  itself  to  his  sermons. 

Lest  it  should  happen  that  we  should  not 
hear  our  minister  again,  that  he  has  finished 
his  course,  let  me  say  one  thing  about  his 
sermons.  It  is  a  word  of  his  own- 1  will  use, 
but  I  will  make  it  mine.  His  only  fear  in 
preaching  has  been  lest  he  should  preach 
below  our  feet.  He  dare  not  and  be  true  to 
himself  lower  the  dignity  of  the  pulpit,  the 
grandeur  of  the  sermon.  Great  have  been 
his  themes,  but  plain  and  simple  have  been 
his  words.  The  every  day  words  in  which 
men  think  and  talk,  scold  and  make  love, 
and  pray,  are  those  he  uses  —  though  at 
times  he  has  used  "  words  of  learned  length." 

But  simple  as  may  have  been  his  words 
there  was  no  trifling,  no  catering  to  the  un- 
thinking or  unfeeling. 


FOURTEENTH    LETTER. 


QI 


Perhaps  Lowell  does  not  do  our  preacher 
full  justice.  We  are  sensitive  about  even 
Lowell  making  a  bit  of  fun  at  his  expense. 
But  since  he  brings  in  Emerson  and  Bryant 
and  Whittier  we  cannot  much  complain. 
Nevertheless  his  description  of  Mr.  Parker, 
his  words  about  the  earnestness  of  our  min- 
ister are  worth  reading  and  they  do  really 
give  Mr.  Parker's  spirit.  Take  the  last  lines 
where  he  says, 

'^  There's  a  back  -  ground  of    God   to  each   hard  -  working 

feature, 
Kvery  word  that  he  speaks  has  been  flerlly  furnaced 
In  the  blast  of  a  life  that  has  struggled  in  earnest: 


75 


You  forget  the  man  wholly,   you're  thankful  to  meet 
With  a  preacher  who  smacks  of  the  fleld  and  the  street, 
And  to  hear,  you're   not  over-particular  whence, 
Almost  Taylor's  profusion,   quite  Latimer's  sense." 

How  do  the  people  take  to  the  Dred  Scott 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  ?  We  are 
determined  here  to  see,  if  we  have  an  op- 
portunity, whether  a  colored  man  has  any 
rights  a  white  man  is  bound  to  respect. 

The  financial  outlook  here  is  not  hopeful. 


m 


':ri' 


92 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


There  is  considerable  talk  of  worse  times 
coming.  Some  of  our  people  look  for  a  blow 
to  come  from  the  West.  We  have  not  quite 
the  faith  in  the  Banks  of  the  West  that  we 
have  in  our  own.  All  together,  between 
slavery  agitations,  Supreme  Court  wrongs  to 
the  negro,  the  financial  outlook,  the  prospect 
of  war  and  Mr.  Parker's  illness,  I  cannot 
say.that  the  sky  looks  bright.  But  we  will 
pray  that  some  of  these  clouds  may  before 
long  be  banished  from  the  heavens  and  that 
we  may  have  again  overhead  the  clear  blue 
sky. 

Yours  affectionately, 

.  Dorothy. 


1 


FIFTEENTH    LETTER. 


93 


nes 
ow 
lite 
we 
een 
5  to 
►ect 
not 
ivill 
ore 
:hat 
)Iue 


FIFTEENTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  April  13th,  1858. 
Dear  Hester, 

It  is  not  because  our  minister  is  not 
our  chief  concern  that  I  have  not  written 
you  of  late  ;  but  I  thought  it  would  only  add 
to  your  burdens,  which  are  already  great,  if 
I  told  you  of  our  distress. 

We  are  suffering  from  the  financial  depres- 
sion ;  and  our  sorrow  is  heavy  when  we  see 
great  and  old  firms  falling  into  ruin  about  us. 
Of  course  our  scape-goat  are  you  people  of 
the  west.  And  you  blame  us  for  asking  such 
high  rates  of  interest. 

But  I  presume  that  with  economy  we  shall 
be  able  to  get  along.  And  thus  perhaps  we 
are  receiving  a  blessing  in  disguise.  Econ- 
omy is  the  rule.  And  with  economy  has 
come  a  great  desire  for  prayer.     We  have 


pt 


il 


94 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


ill 


passed  through  a  great  "revival,"  and  are 
still  somewhat  in  its  midst.  Men  take  to  re- 
ligion of  a  certain  sort  when  business  is  dull. 
Old  Park  Street  Church  was  the  headquar- 
ters for  this  revival,  and  in  March  it  seemed 
to  have  reached  high  water  mark.  At  least 
so  it  seemed  to  us.  For  on  Saturday  the  6th 
of  March  the  good  people  of  that  church 
made  Mr.  Parker  the  chief  subject  of  their 
prayers.  Perhaps  their  reason  was  that  the 
revival  was  not "  converting"  as  many  people 
as  was  hoped  for.  "The  Daily  Bee"  of 
March  1 7th  gave  us  reports  of  these  prayers. 
That  paper  is  not  in  agreement  with  Mr.  Par- 
ker, but  it  says  that  religious  people  ought 
to  show  sense,  and  that  some  of  their  prayers 
are  an  extraordinary  manifestation  of  anxiety 
for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  others.  In  reply 
to  this  interest  in  himself  Mr.  Parker  has 
preached  two  sermons  :  one  on  a  "False  Re- 
vival of  Religion,"  the  other  on  a  "True 
Revival  of  Religion."  Truly  there  was  right- 
eous indignation  and  an  appeal  to  the  nobler 
man  in  those  sermons.     On  those  two  Sun- 


w 


FIFTEENTH    LETTER. 


95 


tm 


days,  April  4th  and  nth,  Music  Hall  heard 
plain  speaking, 

Mr.  Parker  told  us  of  one  of  the  good 
brethren  praying  that  God  would  put  a  hook 
in  his  (  Mr.  Parker's  )  jaws  so  that  he  might 
not  be  able  to  speak.  Indeed  these  prayers 
are  among  things  ''fearfully  and  wonder- 
fully made."  It  was  Saturday  so  one  brother 
prayed  that  the  good  Lord  would  visit  Mr. 
Parker's  study  and  cause  such  confusion  that 
he  could  not  finish  his  sermon  for  the  follow- 
ing Sunday.  Another  brother  asked  God  to 
keep  the  people  away  from  Music  Hall  and 
somehow  get  them  over  to  Park  Street 
Church.  A  more  thoughtful  pleader  prayed 
God  to  meet  Mr.  Parker  as  he  did  Paul  of 
old,  to  throw  a  great  light  about  him  which 
would  bring  him  trembling  to  the  earth  and 
make  him  an  able  defender  of  the  faith  which 
he  has  so  long  labored  to  destroy. 

Among  these  earnest  men  was  one  with  a 
possible  sense  of  humor  ;  for  he  plainly  told 
his  God  that  if  he  did  not  take  the  matter  in 
hand    himself    there    was    no   telling   what 


Mil 


■r"' 


96 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


! 


'! 


might  happen  to  Boston.  He  told  the  Lord 
that  they  could  not  argue  with  Mr.  Parker  ; 
he  was  too  much  for  them,  and  the  more  he 
was  preached  against  the  more  the  people 
loved  him  and  flocked  to  hear  him. 

Now  Mr.  Parker  would  be  glad  if  Boston 
were  stirred  to  its  foundations  by  a  true 
revival  of  religion.  But  he  does  not  like 
these  manufactured  revivals.  He  longs  for 
a  real  outpouring  of  the  spirit  of  God.  He 
said  that  he  believed  that  such  revivals  as 
the  one  in  Park  Street  Church  do  harm. 
They  turn  thoughtful  men  away  from 
religion,  and  they  fasten  on  those  who  are 
influenced  by  them  a  false  theology.  In 
his  sermon  he  asked  this  question  :  Suppos- 
ing every  man,  woman  and  child  were 
converted  to  the  church  theology,  would 
it  abate  war,  political  corruption,  slavery, 
selfish  antagonisms  in  society,  or  the  degra- 
dation of  woman  ?  He  answered.  No.  He 
calls  for  a  revival  which  is  the  outcome  of 
the  earnest  work  of  righteous  men.  "A 
revival  of  piety,  a  new  power  of  love  to  God 


FIFTEENTH     LETTER. 


97 


and  love  for  all  his  laws  ;  a  revival  that 
would  turn  forts  into  pleasure  grounds, 
arsenals  to  museums,  jails  to  hospitals  ;  not 
a  gallows  in  the  land,  no  slavery,  black  or 
white,  no  murder,  no  theft ;  poverty  ended, 
drunkenness  banished,  justice,  truth,  human 
love  everywhere  and  forever."  This  is  the  re- 
vival the  nation  and  all  are  in  need  of.  But  in 
order  to  such  a  revival  those  who  promote  it 
must  know  the  infinite  God  as  One  perfect  in 
Power,  perfect  in  Wisdom,  perfect  in  Justice, 
perfect  in  Holiness  and  perfect  in  Love. 
Thus  knowing  Him  we  shall  love  Him  and 
His  laws,  and  persuade  others  to  the  same. 

It  is  the  man  who  thus  preaches  who 
must  be  removed,  and  for  whose  removal 
prayers  are  offered.  Oh  religion  how  thou 
art  made  to  offend  God  and  man  ! 

But  I  fear  these  prayers  may  after  all  be 
answered.  There  was  some  doubt  whether 
we  should  open  again  in  the  fall  of  '57.  We 
began  services  in  September  with  fear  and 
trembling.  And  it  is  in  the  same  spirit  we 
still    continue.      I    look   for    Mr.    Parker's 


'^1  if 


i'  ifl 


i-  ifl 


JS  '■ 


'i    M 


!i :; 


98 


THEODORE  PARKER. 


breakdown  any  day.  But  even  should  the 
time  come  when  the  great  voice  is  silent, 
his  printed  word  will  still  preach  the  living 
gospel.  You  may  be  glad  to  know  that  Mr. 
Parker's  two  sermons  on  Revivals  have  sold 
wonderfully.  I  will  send  you  copies  so  that 
you  may  read  them  for  yourself.  Pass 
them  around.     They  will  do  good. 

Affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


SIXTEENTH     LETTER. 


99 


the 
ent, 
v'lng 
Mr. 
sold 
that 
Pass 


SIXTEENTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  February  4th,  1859. 
My  dear  Hester, 

How  can  I  tell  the  sad  story  I 
Our  hearts  are  heavy  I  Our  beloved  minister 
has  gone  to  seek  the  priceless  blessing  of 
health.  The  doctors  tell  him  he  has  one 
chance  in  ten.    He  goes  with  this  slight  hope. 

Yesterday  was  a  sad  day  when  we  saw  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Parker  and  their  little  company 
leave  us  for  New  York  whence  they  are  to 
sail  for  the  West  Indies.  It  has  been  a  long 
struggle. 

The  decisive  moment  came  January  9th. 
We  were  assembled  as  usual  in  Music  Hall, 
waiting  for  Mr.  Parker's  coming.  But  instead 
there  came  a  note  from  him  which  told  how 
that  morning  early,  at  a  little  past  four,  a 
slight  attack  of  bleeding  in  the  lungs  came 


I 


111. ! 


pi 


' 


Mi     « 


lOO 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


to  him.  The  grief  that  rested  upon  us  was 
deep  and  real.  The  sermon  he  had  ready 
for  us  was  on  "  The  Religion  of  Jesus  and 
the  Christianity  of  the  Church  ;  or  the  Supe- 
riority of  Good-will  to  men  over  Theological 
Fancies." 

At  once  we  held  a  meeting  of  the  Parish 
and  voted  to  continue  Mr.  Parker's  salary  for 
one  year,  and  more  if  necessary,  pl*ovided 
he  seek  rest,  and  go  in  pursuit  of  his  health. 
The  last  sermon  he  gave  us  on  Sunday  after 
the  New  Year  clings  in  blessings  to  the  walls 
of  Music  Hall.  It  was  indeed  a  call  to  noble 
living.  It  was  the  one  great  lesson  he  has 
always  been  preaching.  It  was  of  God's  per- 
fect goodness ;  of  his  infinite  father  and 
motherhood  he  spoke.  All  this  calls  us  up 
higher.  The  text  was, "  Friend  go  up  higher." 
I  hear  the  sweet  voice  in  feebleness  uttering 
the  last  words  :  "  Let  you  and  me  not  be 
disobedient  to  the  heavenly  vision."  But  to 
still  farther  impress  us  with  the  gospel  God 
gave  him  to  proclaim  Mr.  Parker  has  had 
printed  the  last  sermon  he  preached  to  us, ' 


SIXTEENTH    LETTER. 


lOI 


and  also  the  one  he  was  to  give  us  on  Janu- 
ary 9th. 

All  during  the  year  '58  it  has  been  in  fee- 
bleness and  much  pain  Mr.  Parker  performed 
his  duties  as  minister  of  our  Society.  In 
August  the  Society  urged  him  to  prolong 
his  vacation ;  for  we  wished  him  restored,  if 
possible,  to  health.  We  said  he  owed  this 
to  his  family,  friends,  humanity  and  religion, 

In  that  same  month  Mr.  Joseph  Lyman 
took  him  for  a  700  miles  drive  through  New 
England  and  New  York.  It  was  hoped  that 
such  an  out-door  drive  would  build  him  up 
in  strength.  But  in  October  he  was  pulled 
down  by  a  surgical  operation,  and  in  Decem- 
ber he  injured  himself  while  getting  on  the 
train  which  he  was  taking  in  order  to  attend 
a  funeral  some  thirty  miles  from  the  city. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  he  must  needs  de- 
liver certain  lectures.  Early  in  the  summer 
he  went  to  Pennsylvania  to  deliver  a  course 
of  lectures  to  his  old  friends  of  Chester  Co. 
And  marvellous  lectures  they  were.  Then 
in  October  he  began  a  course  before  our 


§' 


^  m 


;^ « 


'If 


fi'i:  ■ 


(I 


■»■■■ 


j 


ij; 


Ps  i^ 


I02 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


literary  society.  The  subject  was  "  Historic 
Americans."  And  for  these  he  chose  Frank- 
lin, Adams,  Jefferson  and  Washington.  He 
never  finished  the  course.  How  could  he  ? 
Exeter  Place  looks  lonely.  I  was  there 
to-day.  I  was  in  the  library  ;  not  the  first 
time,  but  the  saddest.  Again  I  marvelled 
at  the  great  array  of  books,  and  wondered 
how  one  man  could  make  use  of  so  many. 
I  am  told  that  there  are  perhaps  14000  vol- 
umes in  Mr.  Parker's  library.  Great  tomes 
rise  in  their  dignity  before  you  —  the  fathers 
of  the  church  and  the  great  Greeks,  Aristotle, 
Plutarch  and  others.  Choice  little  volumes 
of  the  classics,  not  as  large  as  the  palm  of 
your  hand,  keep  close  company  to  these 
dignified  tomes.  Not  only  the  Greek  and 
Latin  classics  are  there,  but  Italian,  Spanish, 
Arabic  and  Dutch.  Oriental  and  Occidental 
stand  side  by  side  upon  the  shelves.  Not 
even  Russia  is  forgotten.  The  French  au- 
thors are  in  abundance  ;  and  as  for  the  Ger- 
man, one  might  say  there  are  in  the  library 
as  many  books   in  that  language  as  in  the 


SIXTEENTH     LETTER. 


103 


English.  Mr.  Parker  drank  deep  at  the  Ger- 
man fountains.  Rich  beyond  compare  in 
pamphlets  on  the  subject  always  near  Mr. 
Parker's  heart,  that  of  slavery,  is  his  library. 
The  future  historian  is  likely  to  dig  into  this 
mine  some  day.  The  dictionaries  and  gram- 
mars of  many  languages  give  the  library 
great  value.  It  is  perhaps  these  which  make 
it  so  precious  in  the  eyes  of  scholars.  I  am 
told  it  is  strong  in  history  and  literary  criti- 
cism. But  what  one  feels  most  is  that  Mr. 
Parker  has  a  passion  for  books  beyond  his 
contemporaries  in  our  land.  I  pray  he  may 
be  spared  to  again  wander  in  these  rich  fields 
of  thought,  old  and  new  and  of  many  lands. 
But  should  we  never  look  upon  his  dear 
face  again  there  remains  to  us  a  bit  of  con- 
solation in  Mr.  Cheney's  crayon  of  him.  In 
'53  Mr.  Cheney  made  portraits  of  both  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Parker.  It  was  truly  a  work  in- 
spired of  love  ;  for  it  was  Mr.  Parker  awak- 
ened the  religious  life  of  Mr.  Cheney.  In 
the  portrait  of  our  minister  we  see  the  man 
in  his  more  gentle  spirit;  and  as  for  Mrs. 


Hi. 

it 


':i!  '.fl 


I04 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


Parker,  she  is  there  in  her  simple  New  Eng- 
land beauty. 

How  the  letters  poured  into  Exeter  Place 
when  it  was  known  that  Mr.  Parker  had 
failed  in  health  and  was  to  leave  Boston. 
Sorrow  has  its  consolations ;  it  reveals  the 
deeper  depths  in  our  poor  humanity.  One 
would  hardly  think  our  bold  preacher  could 
have  so  many  friends.  But  there  is  the  fact ; 
he  has  them  by  the  hundreds,  I  was  going 
to  write  thousands. 

Affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


•;  I 


SEVENTEENTH    LETTER. 


105 


SEVENTEENTH  LETTER. 


Ill 


■  i  if 

m 


Boston,  June  12th,  1859. 
Dear  Hester, 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  write  you 
that  the  Twenty-eighth  Society  still  lives. 
The  voices  that  we  hear  are  great,  though 
they  by  no  means  are  to  us  what  Mr.  Parker's 
has  been.  On  Feburary  13  we  had  Mr. 
Ralph  W.  Emerson  —  a  voice  to  charm. 
Mr.  Parker  always  looked  up  to  Mr.  Emer- 
son as  a  master.  To  him  he  dedicated  his 
"Ten  Sermons"  "with  admiration  for  his 
genius  and  with  kindly  affection  for  what  in 
him  is  far  nobler  than  genius."  In  March 
we  had  Geo.  W.  Curtis  whose  smooth,  great 
periods  were  in  contrast  with  the  torrent  of 
our  minister. 

Often  do  we  hear  from  Mr.  Parker — per- 
haps he  has  us  too  much  in  his  mind.     In  a 


II  ■  H 


iifjj 


Ji;  I 


^y.   ^^.„ 


106 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


■■  7  /■■ 


ill 


.  / 


letter  to  Mr.  Manley,  which  many  of  us  were 
permitted  to  read,  he  tells  us  that  no  distance 
can  really  separate  him  from  us.  His  letters 
home  all  tell  the  same  story  of  his  love  for 
us  ;  and  only  we  know  how  deeply  it  is 
returned. 

In  March  he  sent  us  from  Fredericksted, 
Santa  Cruz,  one  of  his  old  sermons  which  he 
had  printed.  I  remembered  it  well  enough. 
It  was  preached  to  us  on  a  hot  July  Sunday 
in  the  year  '55.  Mr.  Parker  was  in  the  midst 
of  a  series  of  sermons  which  tried  body  and 
mind  of  preacher  and  people.  On  this  Sun- 
day he  gave  us  this  "Nature  Sermon"  in 
place  of  one  in  the  series,  which  he  now 
sends  us.  And  with  the  sermon  he  sends 
us  a  letter  which  we  may  call  a  "Nature 
letter."  In  the  letter  he  talks  with  God 
through  the  stars.  Speaking  of  the  night  ia 
Santa  Cruz  he  says  :  "  The  sun  is  scarcely 
out  of  sight,  and  not  only  the  planets  — Jupi- 
ter, Mars — appear,  but  the  larger  fixed  stars, 
as  Sirius  and  Arcturus,  with  handsome  attend- 
ance have  kindled  a  new  day  ;  then  all  the 


SEVENTEENTH    LETTER. 


107 


lesser  sons  of  heaven,  the  common  people  of 
the  skies,  rush  into  the  field  with  democratic 
swiftness,  and  yet  without  indecorous  haste. 
The  Great  Bear  seems  like  a  constellation  of 
twinkling  moons.  Here  too  are  stars  I  never 
saw  before  ;  on  the  Southern  Cross  beauty 
is  forever  lifted  up  for  the  benediction  of  the 
world."  Sick  or  well,  it  is  the  same  restless 
mind,  yet  ever  in  high  communion. 

This  love  of  Nature  one  can  easily  believe 
came  to  the  boy  on  the  Lexington  farm. 
Only  a  short  time  ago  I  drove  out  there  ;  a 
little  more  than  an  hour's  drive.  It  is  a  rough 
farm  indeed,  but  from  its  little  hills  a  broad 
sky  spreads  itself  out.  And  as  we  drove 
along  the  narrow  roads  with  the  great  trees 
on  either  side,  it  was  not  difficult  to  imagine 
that  these  trees,  bending  their  tops  over  the 
boy's  head,  baptized  him  with  his  deep  love 
for  Nature.  When  we  looked  all  about  us 
we  felt  it  was  no  unfit  place  for  him  to  be 
born  who  was  to  strike  off  from  the  Ameri- 
can giant  the  ecclesiastical  chains  that  had 
bound  too  long  this  growing  people. 


li 


'<■ '  '.\i 


io8 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


':''/ 


y 


/ 


What  is  just  now  filling  our  minds  and 
hearts  is  a  long  letter —  in  fact  a  book,  a  kind 
of  autobiograph  —  from  Mr.  Parker  to  our 
Society.  It  has  just  been  printed  by  the 
Standing  Committee.  It  is  a  kind  of  full 
opening  of  our  minister's  heart.  He  goes 
over  the  work  he  has  done.  He  tells  of  his 
coming  to  us,  of  his  hopes  and  fears,  of  the 
gospel  he  has  tried  to  preach,  and  of  the  op- 
position he  met  with.  His  own  deeper  life 
from  boyhood  reveals  itself.  It  is  for  us  a 
living  picture  of  our  minister. 

This  letter  is  in  answer  to  one  from  our 
Society  to  Mr.  Parker.  Back  in  January 
when  we  saw  we  had  to  give  Mr.  Parker  up 
we  prepared  a  letter  in  which  we  tried  to 
open  our  hearts  to  him.  We  kept  it  as  quiet 
as  possible,  and  in  a  private  way  got  three 
hundred  and  more  to  sign  it.  We  feared  to 
let  Mr.  Parker  have  it  before  leaving  and 
gaining  some  strength.  It  was  handed  to 
him  on  the  6th  of  last  March  and  after  he 
had  read  it  he  was  heard  to  say  that  it  so 
moved  him  that  he  did  not  recover  from  it 


-.,i..--^/r 


:^ 


SEVENTEENTH    LETTER. 


109 


all  night.  The  6th  of  March  was  a  Sunday, 
so  that  Mr.  Parker  had  us  with  him  that 
day  in  Santa  Cruz.  We  have  heard  since 
that  he  thinks  we  over  rate  him,  but  if  so  it 
was  the  outpouring  of  our  love. 

Well  in  reply  to  our  letter  came  this  long 
one  from  Mr.  Parker  dated  Fredericksted, 
April  19. 

As  we  read  the  closing  words  we  bend 
our  heads,  we  imagine  the  hands  of  our 
minister  are  streached  out  over  the  congre- 
gation, we  hear  the  voice  as  it  blesses  in  the 
name  of  the  Infinite  Father  and  Mother,  and 
we  think  the  face  lighted  with  a  heavenly 
glory. 

We  have  been  told  that  this  letter  was 
written  with  bloody  tears  and  great  pangs. 
So  be  it.     It  is  worthy  of  it. 

Word  has  come  to  us  that  Mr.  Parker, 
who  left  the  West  Indies  on  the  i6th  of  May 
last,  arrived  in  Southampton  on  the  ist  of 
this  month.  A  glad  welcome  awaits  him 
in  England  from  some  of  his  truest  friends. 
Our  only  fear  is  that  he  will  do  too  much. 


;. !  ifl 


^ 


no 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


We  hope  he  will  quench  his  fires  and  rest 
his  hammer  and  anvil. 

We  understand  that  he  is  not  to  remain 
long  in  England,  but  that  he  intends  going 
to  the  Continent  some  time  this  month.  He 
is  consult  with  one  or  more  of  the  physicians 
of  Paris.  But  if  the  doctors  of  Europe  do 
not  agree  any  better  than  do  our  own,  there 
is  little  hope  for  our  minister. 

Affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


M 


\m 


IIGHTEENTH    LETTER. 


I  II 


EIGHTEENTH  LETTER. 


Boston,  April  14,  i860. 
Dear  Hester, 

You  ask  in  your  last  letter  why  I 
have  not  kept  you  better  informed  about  the 
doings  of  our  minister.  Please  don't  for  a 
moment  think  we  have  forgotten  him.  But 
I  thought  that  perhaps  it  would  be  better  to 
devote  one  letter  entirely  to  him,  and  so  let 
you  have  all  the  news  we  have  from  him. 

Perhaps  I  ought  to  begin  by  telling  you 
that  Mr.  Parker's  stay  was  short  in  England. 
He  went  to  Paris  where  he  remained  a  few 
days.  While  there  he  consulted  the  cele- 
brated Dr.  Louis,  from  whom  he  received 
little  help  or  encouragement.  From  Paris 
he  went  to  Montreaux,  Switzerland,  and 
lived  there  from  June  until  well  into  October, 
except  that  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  the 


r'il| 


i: 


IS     '^1  ' 

It       fh    ' 

11  ''4 
¥  M 


1 1! 


hi 


I  ^ 


'■■J 


II  *'H 


112 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


summer  with  Professor  Desor  in  his  moun- 
tain retreat,  which  is  about  a  day's  drive 
from  Montreaux.  This  visit  he  enjoyed  in 
company  with  literary  men  and  scientists 
who  were  also  guests  of  the  good  professor. 
You  perhaps  know  that  Professor  D.  is  one 
of  our  minister's  dearest  friends. 

It  was  however  to  Rome  his  eyes  were 
turned,  and  thither  he  went  about  the  middle 
of  October.  But  if  he  finds  that  the  climate 
of  that  city  does  not  agree  with  him  he  says 
he  will  "  pull  up  stakes  and  push  off  for 
some  other  place." 

We  don't  find  much  difficulty  in  learning 
of  Mr.  Parker's  doings,  plans  and  hopes  ; 
for  now  that  he  is  not  writing  sermons  or 
lectures,  he  puts  his  whole  life  into  letters 
to  his  friends.  And  what  letters  ;  some  of 
them  would  make  pamphlets.  They  are  al- 
most at  times  lectures  on  the  ways  of  the 
people,  or  on  the  history  and  archeology  of 
the  places  he  visits. 

One  letter  among  others  came  to  our  So- 
ciety.    It  was  Mr.  Parker's   resignation   as 


EIGHTEENTH    LETTER. 


113 


our  minister.  He  urged  us  to  call  some  one 
in  his  place  5  for,  said  he,  occasional  men 
will  not  serve  us  as  well  as  a  minister  of  our 
own.  Of  course  we  refused  to  accept  the 
resignation  ;  Mr.  Parker  is  still  our  minister. 
We  still  hope,  though  we  must  know  that  it 
is  a  vain  hope.  Indeed  Mr.  Apthorp  in  a 
letter  to  Mr.  Lyman  does  not  paint  for  us  a 
very  bright  picture  of  our  minister's  health. 
In  fact  it  tells  the  sad  story  of  his  gradual 
decline. 

In  Mr.  Parker's  own  letters  we  learn  that 
the  climate  of  Rome  is  not  at  all  what  suits 
one  with  weak  lungs.  He  writes  that  the 
climate  is  most  fitful  ;  it  is  the  dampest  city 
he  has  ever  been  in,  and  on  the  whole  does 
not  use  him  well. 

Nor  does  he  seem  to  think  much  better  of 
the  Pope's  government  than  he  does  of  the 
city's  weather.  He  calls  Rome  the  "melan- 
choly city,"  and  sends  a  letter  to  Mr.  Manley 
dated, 

"  Chief  City  of  Ecclesiastical  Humbug, 

Jan.  6,  i860." 


I' 


fi 


ll'! 


I'll 


■ 


ft-    r  I 


ii'l 


^^ii 


1 


Ml 


i  it 


114 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


In  a  letter  to  good  Freeman  Clarke  he  says: 
"  Really  the  capital  of  Christendom  is  the 
stronghold  of  the  Devil."  Of  Pius  IX  he 
has  a  very  poor  opinion,  and  sums  up  his 
feelings  thus :  "  Rome  is  utterly  foreign  to 
me  and  mine.  I  abhor  its  form  of  religion, 
which  is  only  ceremony.  I  despise  its  theol- 
ogy, and  find  little  to  respect  in  its  lying, 
treacherous  and  unreliable  inhabitants.  It  is 
a  city  of  the  dead."  It  is  not  likely  that 
when  our  minister  dies  the  Roman  Catholic 
bishop  of  Boston  will  have  the  Cathedral 
bells  tolled,  as  was  done  when  Channing 
passed  away. 

But  not  Rome  and  its  sorrows  and  wrongs 
alone  fill  Mr.  Parker's  mind.  Our  own  land 
and  its  sorrows  and  sins  weigh  heavily  upon 
his  mind  and  heart.  The  great  sin  of  slavery 
still  comes  in  for  his  indignation.  Since  the 
hanging  of  John  Brown  Mr.  Parker  thinks 
that  only  by  the  shedding  of  the  white  man's 
blood  can  slavery  be  put  down.  In  his  let- 
ters he  pours  out  his  soul  in  condemnation 
of  this  crime. 


EIGHTEENTH    LETTER. 


"5 


Ln's 


Deeper  than  any  others  sink  into  our  hearts 
his  words  about  himself.  And  they  are 
words  that  give  us  no  hope  of  hin  recovery. 
Mr.  Parker  is  a  man  to  whom  life  is  precious. 
He  loves  life  for  its  opportunities  to  work. 
In  his  long  letter  to  our  Society  and  which 
has  been  printed  under  the  title,  "  Theodore 
Parker's  Experience  as  a  Minister,"  he  tells 
us  how  hard  it  was  for  him  to  say  Farewell, 
"  it  has  its  bitterness  to  one  not  eighty-four, 
but  forty-eight."  And  now  some  of  us  have 
seen  a  letter  from  him  to  George  Ripley.  I 
was  permitted  to  copy  it,  and  I  will  here 
give  you  its  closing  paragraph.  It  was  writ- 
ten from  Rome  last  February.  "  O  George, 
the  life  I  am  here  slowly  dragging  to  an  end 
—  tortuous,  but  painless  —  is  very,  very  im- 
perfect, and  fails  of  much  I  meant  to  hit  and 
might  have  reached,  nay  should,  had  there 
been  ten  or  twenty  years  more  left  to  me  ! 
But  on  the  whole  it  has  not  been  a  mean  life, 
measured  by  the  common  run  of  men  ;  never 
a  selfish  one.  Above  all  things  else,  I  have 
sought  to  teach  the  true  idea  of  man,  of  God, 


'  i 


ii6 


THEODORE  PARKER. 


of  religion,  with  its  truths,  its  duties,  and  its 
joys.  I  never  fought  for  myself,  nor  against 
a  private  foe ;  but  have  gone  into  the  battle 
of  the  nineteenth  century  and  followed  the 
flag  of  humanity.  Now  I  am  ready  to  die, 
though  conscious  that  I  leave  half  my  work 
undone,  and  much  grain  lies  in  my  lields, 
waiting  only  for  him  that  gathereth  sheaves. 
I  would  rather  lay  my  bones  with  my  father's 
and  mother's  at  Lexington,  and  think  I  may, 
but  will  not  complain  if  earth  or  sea  shall 
cover  them  up  elsewhere.  It  is  idle  to  i*un 
from  death  ! " 

You  must  not  think,  dear  Hester,  that  sad 
as  these  words  are,  our  minister  forgets  the 
kind  care  and  the  cheer  of  the  company  of 
his  friends,  who  are  with  him  even  in  his 
sorrow.  The  list  of  these  friends  would  be 
a  long  one  if  I  were  to  write  down  the 
names  of  all  of  them. 

A  great  heart,  a  great  mind  made  for  a 
great  work  must  say,  "  I  have  finished  my 
course  ;"  and  it  is  a  hard  thing  to  do. 

Affectionately,  Dorothy. 


NINETEENTH     LETTER. 


117 


NINETEENTH  LETTER. 


my 


Boston,  June  3rd,  i860. 
Dear  Hester, 

Perhaps  what  my  pen  has  to  write 
could  not  better  be  done  than  on  this  quiet 
Sunday  afternoon.  Today  Mr.  Parker's  old 
friend,  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May,  spoke  to  us. 
And  of  course  the  subject  of  the  discourse 
was  Mr.  Parker  himself.  In  my  last  letter  I 
told  you  that  Rome  and  its  wet  weather  did 
not  at  all  agree  with  him,  so  that  sick  as  Mr. 
Parker  was  he  left  that  city  and  reached 
Florence  about  the  last  of  April.  To  his 
friend  Desor  he  said  he  must  not  die  in 
Rome  and  leave  his  bones  in  that  detested 
soil.  If  in  his  own  free  country  he  might 
not  be  buried,  then  he  must  find  his  last  rest- 
ing place  in  some  other  free  land. 

After  reaching  Florence  it  was  evident  to 


/- 


ii8 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


hm 


?!) 


all  that  the  end  was  near.  And  among  those 
who  were  with  him  in  his  last  days  was  Miss 
Frances  Power  Cobbe,  who  owes  so  much 
to  Mr.  Parker's  printed  word.  Though  they 
had  long  corresponded  with  each  other,  and 
were  one  in  their  religious  thought,  yet  they 
had  never  met  until  these  last  days  in 
Florence. 

And  what  living  consolation  came  to  our 
minister  from  the  words  of  Miss  Cobbe  !  I 
want  to  tell  you  of  a  few  of  his  last  sayings. 
'^  Of  course  I  am  not  afraid  to  die,  but  there 
was  so   much  to  do." 

Miss  Cobbe  said  to  him  "  You  have  given 
your  life  to  God  —  to  his  truth  and  his  work, 
as  truly  as  any  old  martyr  of  them  all."  "  I 
don't  know,"  the  dying  prophet  said,  "  I  had 
great  powers  committed  to  me ;  I  have  but 
half  used  them." 

Amid  all,  in  consciousness  and  in  uncon- 
sciousness, Boston  and  his  friends  were  in 
his  mind  ;  his  library  and  our  Society  filled 
his  passing  visions.  In  a  great  moment  of 
prophetic  insight  and  power,  and  a  moment 


NINETEENTH     LETTER. 


119 


of  clearest  consciousness,  bright  with  divine 
light  this  son  of  God  saw  the  travail  of  his 
soul,  and  said  to  the  friend  of  his  bedside, 
"I  have  something  to  tell  you  —  there  are 
two  Theodore  Parkers  now.  One  is  dying 
here  in  Italy  ;  *  the  other  I  have  planted  in 
America.  He  will  live  there  and  finish  my 
work."  What  sublime  faith  !  Many  true 
words  have  come  to  us  from  our  minister. 
Music  Hall  and  Melodeon  Hall  have  heard 
his  words  of  power,  but  never  did  he  speak 
a  deeper  truth  than  he  did  when  dying  in  far- 
off  Italy. 

The  loth  of  May  came  when  our  minister 
fell  into  that  deep  sleep  that  comes  from 
God,  once  to  all  of  us.  It  was  a  gentle  death ; 
a  May  day  sunset  that  fell  that  Thursday 
upon  Florence  and  Mr.  Parker. 

On  the  next  Sunday  (the  13th)  at  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon  the  body  was  quietly 
taken  to  the  little  Protestant  Cemeter)'  out- 
side the  city.  The  Beatitudes  were  read, 
they  being  an  all-sufficient  service.  The 
holy  and  deep  thoughts  of  those  present  were 


I20 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


I 


,  if- 


Ui 


laid  upon  the  grave  as  bright  flowers  of  love. 

We  are  told  that  a  simple  marble  slab, 
with  Mr.  Parker's  name,  and  with  the  dates 
of  his  birth  and  death,  on  it,  is  all  that  is  to 
mark  the  resting  place  of  our  minister.  This 
of  course  is  just  what  he  would  himself 
desire. 

Immediately  after  the  service  today  the 
Society  passed  resolutions  in  which  we  feebly     >/ 
tried  to  give  expression  to  our  loss.     What 
poor  things  words  are  at  times  !  » 

Next  Sunday  we  are  to  hold  a  service  of 
commemoration  of  the  death  of  our  minister. 
Of  this  I  will  write  you  in  my  next  letter. 

But  already  have  words  of  praise  been 
spoken.  At  the  session  of  the  Anti-slavery 
Society  held  last  Thursday,  Wendell  Phillips 
spoke  most  fitting  words  about  Mr.  Parker. 
He  said  that  when  some  Americans  die  their 
friends  tire  the  public  with  excuses  for  their 
mistakes,  stains  and  spots.  "We  need  no 
such  mantle  for  that  green  grave  under  the 
sky  of  Florence ;  no  excuses,  no  explanations." 

Mr.  Garrison  said  that  Mr.  Parker's  theol- 


NINETEENTH    LETTER. 


121 


K 

S 

s 

o 

s 

' 

f 

le 

.' 

at 

/J 

r. 
r. 

y 

DS 

r. 
sir 
;ir 

lO 

le 


ogy,  so  simple  in  its  faith  of  One  God  of  in- 
finite love,  suited  him.  And  generous  James 
Freeman  Clarke  said  that  Mr.  Parker's  work 
was  to  "  raise  men  to  God."  He  spoke  of 
the  tender  feminine  heart  of  our  minister. 
"  He  was  as  docile  as  a  child  to  the  touch  of 
love."  You  see  that  already  others  begin  to 
water  the  trees  of  Mr.  Parkers  planting. 
No  doubt,  dear  Hester,  I  have  wearied  you 
by  this  time.  But  out  of  the  fullness  of  the 
heart  the  mouth  speaketh  and  the  pen  writes. 
And  our  hearts  are  full.  Let  this  win  pardon 
from  you,  if  any  is  needed. 

Affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


)1- 


122 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


TWENTIETH  LETTER. 


Boston,  June   i8th,  i860. 
Dear  Hester, 

Yesterday  the  exercises  in  com- 
memoration of  the  death  of  our  beloved 
minister  were  all  our  hearts  could  desire. 

Music  Hall  was  packed,  and  the  attention 
of  the  immense  audience  was  held  for  full 
two  hours.  The  stand,  or  pulpit  from  which 
Mr.  Parker  was  wont  to  preach  was  buried 
in  flowers.  In  front  of  it  was  a  cross  of 
white  roses  and  evergreen.  Beside  the  Bible 
from  which  we  so  often  heard  our  minister 
read  were  some  of  the  little  flowers  he  loved 
best  —  lilies  of  the  valley. 

We  fallowed  as  closely  as  possible  Mr. 
Parker's  wishes  in  regard  to  his  funeral.  The 
hymns  he  liked  were  sung,  and  one  especial- 
ly he  desired  by  Professor  Norton, 


TWENTIETH      LETTER. 


123 


.^ 


*'  My  God,  I  thank  thee !  may  no  thought 
IC'er  deem  thy  chastisements  severe." 

How  death  unites  men  of  different  modes  of 
thought !  In  its  presence  how  little  some  of 
our  controversies  are  ! 

Three  true  friends  of  Mr.  Parker  spoke  to 
us  the  words  of  truth  and  soberness.  Mr. 
Charles  M.  Ellis  was  simple  and  direct.  He 
held  that  short  as  was  Mr,  Parker's  pastorate 
— that  of  15  years — yet  the  work  done  was 
a  success.  Our  minister's  life  and  work  were 
a  triumph.  Mr.  Emerson,  whom  Mr.  Parker 
was  wont  to  speak  of  as  "  a  man  serene  and 
beautiful  as  a  star,"  "  this  most  lovely  light," 
paid  his  noble  tribute  to  the  memory  of  our 
minister.  He  thought  that  perhaps  more 
tenderness  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Parker  would 
have  been  graceful,  but  he  was  sincere  to 
the  heart's  center.  His  word  was  the  word 
men  would  seek  after  in  the  future.  The 
closing  sentence  of  Mr.  Emerson's  address 
was  almost  as  terrible  as  any  of  Mr.  Parker's 
in  its  condemnation  of  "  polished  and  pleas- 
ant traitors  to  human  rights,  with  perverted 


ins^ffimammmmmmm 


124 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


v'  1 

V'i 

■: 
..  i 


If: 


learning  and  disgraced  graces,"  who  are  to 
"  rot  and  be  forgotten  with  their  double 
tongue"  whilst  the  work  of  our  minister  has 
the  winds,  and  stars  in  their  course  on 
its  side. 

But  it  was  Wendell  Phillips  who  most 
warmed  our  blood.  It  was  a  tribute  worth 
living  for,  working  for,  and  if  need  be  dying 
for.  I  cannot  quote  it  for  you.  But  the  ad- 
dress glowed  with  light  and  wept  tears  of 
joy  and  sorrow.  Take  this  :  "  The  blessings 
of  the  poor  are  his  laurels.  Say  that  his 
words  won  doubt  and  murmur  to  trust  in  a 
loving  God  :  let  that  be  his  record.  Say  that 
to  the  hated  and  friendless  he  was  a  shield 
and  buckler  :  let  that  be  his  epitaph.  The 
glory  of  children  is  the  father's.  When  you 
voted  '  that  Theodore  Parker  should  be  heard 
in  Boston,'  God  honored  you.  Well  have 
you  kept  your  pledge.  In  much  labor  and 
with  many  sacrifices  he  laid  the  corner-stone; 
his  work  is  ended  here.  God  calls  you  to 
put  on  the  top-stone.  Let  fearless  lips  and 
Christian  lives  be  his  monument."    Are  not 


TWENTIETH      LETTER. 


12' 


these  words  themselves  a  monument  any 
man  might  covet  ?  And  as  they  came  rol- 
ling forth  from  the  lips  of  the  orator  the} 
were  to  us  like  a  stream  of  golden  light. 
And  they  are  matched  by  words  of  the  Rev. 
William  R.  Alger  who  spoke  in  Bultinch 
Street  Chapel  on  June  3rd.  "  In  the  death  of 
Theodore  Parker  Truth  loses  a  stalwart 
champion,  humanity  a  brave  friend,  povert}' 
and  suffering  a  generous  helper,  his  country 
an  incorruptible  patriot,  the  earthly  provi- 
dence of  God  an  unflinching  servant."  What 
a  Pleiades  that  sentence  is,  and  it  shines  in 
beauty  and  truth  for  our  minister  ! 

And,  dear  Hester,  now  that  I  am  closing 
I  would  my  own  poor  pen  could  tell  what 
my  heart  feels.  How  can  I  fittingly  speak 
of  him  who  was  such  a  manly  man,  whose 
love  of  God  made  him  ever  more  the  man  ! 
I  cannot  say  that  all  he  has  written  will  live, 
or  much  of  it.  But  that  indefinable  some- 
thing we  call  personality,  that  lives  ;  and  that 
person  whom  we  once  knew  as  Theodore 
Parker  cannot  die  in  this  world  or  any  other 


126 


THEODORE    PARKER. 


d: 


i      ' 


I  ''  . 


world.  He  helped  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
the  great  spiritual  temple  that  is  to  lift  its 
bright  dome  above  ail  humanit}%  He  best 
for  our  time  interpreted  the  great  mind  of 
Jesus.  He  was  the  fellow  of  the  Christ,  both 
in  his  indignation  and  his  sweetness.  He 
was  the  man  who  in  his  closeness  to  God 
made  God  felt  among  men.  Who  in  our  day 
has  brought  heaven  so  near  to  earth  ?  Say 
you  Channing  ?  I  say,  No.  Channing  does 
not  kindle,  as  does  our  minister,  the  awful 
flame  of  God  upon  the  altars  of  the  heart. 
Channing's  beautiful  words  will  be  read,  and 
and  they  will  help.  But  Parker  ^/'//^^g//* will 
live  and  move  a  power  among  men.  His 
name,  not  his  words  alone,  will  stir  to  battle 
for  the  right,  and  cause  men  to  stand  upon 
their  feet  that  God  may  speak  to  them  as 
his  spiritual  fellows. 

And  out  of  this  life  comes  to  you  and  me 
another  lesson,  one  we  are  to  teach  our  chil- 
dren, that  is,  we  are  to  watch  and  pray  in 
deep  agon}^  lest  we  persecute  a  prophet  of 
God  to  his  day.  God  is  not  silent  today,  dear 


J 


TWENTIETH     LETTER. 


12' 


Hester.     He  is  speaking  if  we  listen.     He 
has  his  prophets.     Let  us  welcome  them. 

And  with  the  gloomy  times  that  are  upon 
us  and  the  gloomier  times  perhaps  to  come 
let  us  hold  fast  to  the  truth  our  minister  has 
long  taught  us  :  God  is  not  afar  off.  Out  of 
sorrow  the  day  of  glory  will  arise.  It  does 
seem  as  if  Mr.  Parker's  words  were  to  come 
true  that  we  are  to  enter  into  a  fraternal 
struggle ;  we  of  the  North  are  to  lock  horns 
with  the  South.  God  pity  us  both,  and  when 
the  strife  is  over  forgive  us  both  and  bless  us. 

The  great  word  of  our  minister  stands 
forth  for  us  now,  and  is  to  be  our  sun  and 
shield  :  "  God  is  good." 

How  precious  t     How  strong  ! 
•  Affectionately, 

Dorothy. 


